Cranbrook School, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, is, and long has been, a popular private college prep boarding school for the wealthy. So it is no surprise that Mitt Romney, son of auto-magnate and Michigan Governor George Romney, attended Cranbrook.
What may be surprising is that, while Mitt Romney attended the school, he and other students bullied a classmate for appearing different.
So I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that to this day Romney does not support full equality for gay people. In fact, the incident was so insignificant to Romney that he says he does not remember it. His “apology” is that standard political non-apology: if I hurt anyone, I apologize.
And when Romney was governor of Massachusetts, he actively fought against anti-bullying efforts:
Mitt Romney clashed with a state commission tasked with helping LGBT youth at risk for bullying and suicide throughout his term as Massachusetts governor over funding and its participation in a pride parade. He eventually abolished the group altogether.
“We remember well what Romney tried to do as governor of Massachusetts and we now we have more info on some of his own attitudes that may have led to his policy actions,” Eliza Byard, executive director of LGBT anti-bullying organization GLSEN, told TPM, drawing a connection with reports that Romney cornered a youth in high school and cut his hair. “If he’s willing to dismiss that incident as ‘hijinks,’ I could understand that he wouldn’t understand at all why this program was so critical.”
Related articles
- Mitt Romney was a homophobic bully in high school, say former classmates (boingboing.net)
- Inside Mitt Romney’s Prep School (abcnews.go.com)
- Cranbrook School And The Lord Of The Flies (blogs.the-american-interest.com)