Boston.com – By Steve LeBlanc – Associated Press Writer
BOSTON –Gov. Mitt Romney flirted with abolishing a state advisory commission on gay youth for promoting a parade featuring a crossdressing master of ceremonies and embracing transgender teens, a spokesman said Friday.
Initially, Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said the governor, who signed a proclamation hailing a similar parade in 2003, considering killing the Gov.’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth because the parade press release was issued without the administration’s blessing.
On Friday, Fehrnstrom expanded on that explanation.
“This year what was brought to our attention was a press release that was not authorized by this office but which went out on state letterhead promoting a parade that was hosted by a crossdresser and celebrating, among other things, transgenderism,” he said, adding Romney has instructed the commission to refocus on its core mission of suicide prevention.
Romney’s actions prompted lawmakers to begin drafting legislation to take the commission — the nation’s first governor’s commission on gay and lesbian youth when it was established in 1992 — away from the governor’s office and put it in the hands of the Legislature.