Republicans For Family Values -- www.rffv.org

Contact: Peter LaBarbera, 630-717-7631, rffv@comcast.net

NAPERVILLE, Ill., Jan. 4 /Christian Newswire/ -- Peter LaBarbera, founder of the Republicans For Family Values website, issued the following statement on Mitt Romney's stunning Iowa Caucuses defeat Thursday:

There is a story the media missed in its reporting of Mitt Romney's humiliating loss in Iowa to the comparatively vastly under-funded Mike Huckabee: how a dogged "truth campaign" by pro-family advocates -- mostly from Romney's own state of Massachusetts -- to educate social conservatives on his liberal record on abortion and homosexuality helped seal his defeat.

Much as Romney tried to run away from his pro-abortion and pro-gay past -- and as hard as Romney backers like Hugh Hewitt and Jay Sekulow worked to paper over it and discredit his socially conservative critics -- the truth got out, cracking Romney's carefully-built facade.

While conservatives leaders tore into Mike Huckabee's record -- and appropriately knocked him for some past liberal policies -- there seemed to be a kid-gloves approach among most conservative media power-brokers toward Romney and his liberal social record.
 
Where were the Ann Coulter hit-pieces against the man who once promised that he could do more for Massachusetts homosexuals than Ted Kennedy?

Part of the silence stems from Romney's (present) strong rhetoric against "gay marriage," which obscures his past as a strongly pro-homosexual politician who supported "domestic partners" legislation in Massachusetts and failed to back the original state amendment that could have preserved marriage as between a man and a woman in Massachusetts.

Ironically, had Romney done the Reagan-esque thing and stood up to the Massachusetts judges on "gay marriage," he'd be a national hero now and running away with the nomination.  Instead he went overboard the other way and needlessly (and illegally) passed out "same-sex marriage" licenses.

Romney continues to equivocate on homosexuality: why are pro-family leaders who have spent their lives fighting against homosexual activism now supporting a candidate who, despite experiencing firsthand the effects of radical pro-homosexual laws in Massachusetts -- legalized "same-sex marriage," state-enforced homosexual adoptions, and pro-homosexuality programs in pubic schools -- is still recommending gay 'special-rights' laws to other states? (Meet the Press interview, Dec. 16)

In addition to all his money -- and perhaps in large part because of it -- Romney has the backing of some key pro-life and pro-family leaders, such as Sekulow,  Hewitt, pro-life attorney James Bopp and Rev. Lou Sheldon.  But try as they might, these accomplished men cannot re-construct Romney's liberal social record.

"The Mitt Romney Deception" -- Mass Resistance's devastating report documenting Romney's long pro-abortion and pro-homosexual history -- is there for all to see.

The question remains: will "pro-family" Romney apologists respect the Republican pro-family grassroots enough to stop carrying water for a candidate who is widely regarded as a phony on the very issues -- life, marriage and preserving the natural family -- that are most important to them?

For identification purposes only, LaBarbera is president of Americans For Truth about Homosexuality (www.americansfortruth.org).