The Daily Background
| Romney lied about his 1990s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” stance in Tuesday’s GOP debate
by Arlen Parsa
In Tuesday’s Republican presidential debate, Mitt Romney was asked about the military’s unpopular “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Romney recalled in the debate:
“When I first heard of the don’t ask, don’t tell policy I thought it sounded silly and didn’t think it would be effective and I was wrong. It is the policy in the military what, 10, 15 years and working and I agree that this is not the time to put in place a major change.”
Did Romney really initially think “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was silly? Romney ran for US Senate in 2004, right after the policy was instituted. He wrote a letter to the Massachusetts Log Cabin Republicans, a conservative gay group, asking for their support. In that letter Romney wrote:
Text version:
“One issue I want to clarify concerns President Clinton’s “don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t peruse” military policy. I believe that the Clinton compromise was a step in the right direction. I am also convinced that it is the first in a number of steps that will ultimately lead to gays and lesbians being able to serve openly and honestly in our nation’s military. That goal will be reached when preventing discrimination against gays and lesbians is a mainstream concern, which is a goal we share.”
Download a PDF of Romney’s full letter here (124KB). You can find out where other presidential candidates, both Democrats and Republicans, stand on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” here.
