Quick quiz: Does Mitt Romney support the rights of gay and lesbian couples to adopt children? Better answer fast, it could change.
On the day after President Obama said he supported marriage equality, Mitt Romney told Fox News he's "fine" with gays and lesbians adopting children. Last Thursday, on The Last Word, we aired the video and Lawrence discussed Romney's statement with msnbc's Alex Wagner and Chris Hayes.
Clear, right? He's "fine" with that. But what did Mitt Romney say just one day later?
Mitt Romney was asked about the rights of gay and lesbians to adopt children by Anchor Paul Cameron of WBTV TV in Charlotte, North Carolina. Here's their exchange:
Paul Cameron: "You came out in favor of gay adoptions, how does that sway with gay marriage? Some would say that's a position that’s far left."Mitt Romney: "I think all states but one allow gay adoption," Romney replied, "so that's a position which has been decided by most of the state legislature, including my state some time ago, so I simply acknowledge the fact gay adoption is legal."
There are so many things wrong here.
First, "fine with it" now becomes "acknowledging" the existence of gay adoptions. So that's a 24-hour flip-flop.
Second, Romney is not exactly right when he says just "one" state disallows gay and lesbian adoptions. In many states the law allows adoptions by LGBT parents if they are single, some flat out disallow couples, others are unclear on couples.
(UPDATE- The Romney campaign says the candidate was referring to Mississippi, not Florida where a court struck down the ban on gays and lesbians adopting children in 2010. )
Third, one could take issue with the question posed by interviewer Paul Cameron: "Some would say that's a position that’s far left.” Who are those "some" who would say allowing gays and lesbians to adopt is "far left?" (With questions like that its no wonder the gay marriage ban passed in North Carolina, which allows gays and lesbians to adopt.)
Krystal Ball, Steve Kornacki, and Zach Wahls weighed in on Romney's inconsistency in this exclusive "Very Last Word"
One Post Script: The state previously with the most restrictive policy on gay adoptions was Florida. When Florida's Republican leaders defended the gay adoption ban (which was defeated in court,) they called on expert George A. Reker, a retired neuropsychiatry and behavioral science professor at the University of South Carolina who testified on the unfitness of gays and lesbians to be parents. If George Reker sounds familiar, it is because he is the man photographed in the Miami Airport returning from vacation with an escort he hired from Rentboy.com. And where did Reker get a good portion of his evidence in the case? From this guy who has some pretty vile ideas about the intentions of gay and lesbian Americans.