This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Here's something you won't see in a Mitt Romney campaign ad: He helped make the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City "one of the most gay-friendly games in Olympic history."
That's the word from Mother Jones' Stephanie Mencimer, in an article that details how Romney worked to diversify the games.
The article details how Ed Eynon, human resources director of the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee (SLOC), held meetings with LGBT groups who wanted a representative on SLOC's diversity committee, as well as workforce recruiting with the LGBT community, and access to foreign LGBT athletes and their families to offer them housing and other services.
To the LGBT reps' surprise, Eynon agreed to all of it. And Eynon told Mother Jones that Romney "was very, very supportive of increasing the diversity of the workforce. He was proud that we met with these various groups and had them on committees. He was very appreciative and very complimentary."
Romney's support for the LGBT community then is a contrast to his anti-gay positions now. As Salt Lake City attorney Laura Miliken Gray said, "We were good enough to volunteer at the Olympics, but we're not good enough for equal rights now."