Challenging the Party Line

In an op-ed published in the Boston Herald, Tufts graduate and United Leaders founder Jesse Levey discusses the attitudes of his party – the Republican party – towards homosexuals.

Medford/Somerville, Mass. [03.07.05] Though a loyal Republican all of his life, Tufts graduate Jesse Levey – co-founder along with three other Tufts students of the nonprofit, nonpartisan political activism group United Leaders – recently spoke out against what he perceives as "denigration of gay families" by Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

"I am afraid that the Republican Party has strayed from our historic commitment to individual freedoms, especially on the issue of gay marriage," Levey wrote in an opinion piece published in the Boston Herald.

In the op-ed, Levey – whose Republican involvement includes leading Tufts' College Republicans, campaigning for John McCain, and attending the 2000 Republican National Convention – criticizes Romney's recent statements that call into question the validity of gay families.

"Despite the concerns of Romney, I survived my childhood in my loving lesbian family and I’m now a well-adjusted heterosexual adult and an entrepreneur leading my own company."

According to its website, the goal of United Leaders goal is the "training the next generation of idealistic political leaders." The organization offers fellowships and other educational and activism opportunities.

Levey explained that his mother was among many lesbians in the 1970s who had children via donor insemination.

"As the child of a lesbian mother myself, I feel alienated by Romney's assertion that my family is somehow less valid and that my upbringing should be shunned."

Romney's recent criticism of gay marriage, wrote Levey, undermine his reasons for being a Republican.

"I joined the Republican Party because I believe in the rights of the individual. And my family has the right to live in peace without the leader of my state maligning our very existence.

"The Republican Party I believe in celebrates individuality and personal freedom and does not treat differences like a disease from which one must be protected," he added.

Levey urged Romney to consider these tenets in the future.

"As our governor, Romney must represent all citizens in the Commonwealth – not just those who voted for him (of which I happen to be one) or those who agree with him. I hope that Romney, as leader of our state's Republican Party, will celebrate the triumph of individual freedoms," he wrote in the Herald.

Romney's recent overtures to conservatives in states like Utah and South Carolina, which included the remarks about gay families, are part of a political retooling by the governor, according to Tufts professor and political expert Jeffrey Berry.

"It was a good opening to get conservatives to take him seriously," Berry told The Boston Globe. "It was a big success in terms of South Carolina and more broadly in other Republican conservative circles. He has thrown down the marker to other Republicans that he is going to be in the race, with the organization, know-how, and money."

But for Levey, politics shouldn't trump "the common good."

"Leadership is about bringing people together and seeking the common good, not polarizing people by preying on their prejudices," he wrote in the Herald. "I understand Romney's policy objections to gay marriage and don't fault him for his view. But what common good is served by denigrating my family in the process?"