At Mitt Romney’s town hall event in Colorado today, an audience member asked the presidential candidate where he stood on personal liberty — when it comes to sexuality, not finance.
The young man told Romney that this would be his first presidential election in which he could vote, and that he’s “paid a lot more attention to politics than I had in the past couple of years.”
What he wanted to know, he sad, was how Romney could fight so hard for financial liberty while failing to respect the liberty of LGBT people and women — especially considering Romney’s “religious affiliation and it being a minority”:
AUDIENCE MEMBER: I see that you project yourself as somebody that is a champion of liberty, and I was really moved when you said that this country is propelled by free people. And one of the cornerstones is that we’re allowed to pursue our own happiness as we so choose to do it. And this is — it’s kind of personal and may be straying from the economic discussion here but I mean, just as I guess as an example, considering your religious affiliation and it being a minority [AUDIENCE BOOS] and I guess so my question is in terms of social equality and in terms of women’s rights or gay rights and liberty in that area, what is so wrong about exploring liberty and giving liberty to everyone in every field, not just in the economy?
Watch it:
Romney went on to mostly dodge the young man’s question, speaking only specifically about the issue of abortion, and not speaking to LGBT issues at all. He did say that “everyone in this country should have an opportunity to pursue their course in life as they choose.” However, he must mean only as long as you do not choose to marry a person of the same sex.
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