Romney criticized for donating to antigay school

Pro-gay supporters of Republican Mitt Romney, who in his campaign to become the next governor of Massachusetts has said he supports gay rights, are upset after hearing that he donated $1 million to Brigham Young University, a school with antigay policies, reports The Boston Globe. The honor code at BYU--a Mormon school at which Romney, who is Mormon, helped to finance a management school in 1998--prohibits students who are "same-sex attracted" from openly expressing their sexual orientation. The management school is named for Romney's father. In response to criticism from some of his supporters, Romney declined to take a position on the school's antigay policy. But his deputy campaign manager, Eric Fehrnstrom, said the GOP candidate's $1 million donation to BYU is for the university's "education mission" and that Romney has no ability to affect the institution's policies toward gays. He said Romney, who received his undergraduate degree from BYU and his MBA and law degrees from Harvard, gives to both institutions and that he does so for education purposes and not to affect internal policies.