Will a Romney White House Actually Be Friendly to Homosexuals?

Earlier this week the Log Cabins Republicans formally endorsed Gov. Mitt Romney's candidacy for president, becoming the second conservative group advocating for gay rights to offer a formal blessing. However, the endorsement may have come with a price according to some insiders who say an agreement was discussed for a gender discrimination bill.

Although the Log Cabin Republicans traditionally support Republican Party principles - especially those involving fiscal matters - they have not offered a blanket endorsement for GOP presidential candidates who have not supported their position for gay rights.

For example, they refused to endorse President Bush in 2004 because his administration was pushing a federal marriage amendment.

A meeting between the Log Cabin Republicans and Romney reportedly took place Oct. 17 at Greenwood Farm in Leesburg, Va. The primary topic of conversation was not the federal marriage amendment, but workplace non-discrimination protections that now seem to be a priority of pro-gay organizations.

"I can say with confidence that the Romney administration would work on desirable outcomes for workplace non-discrimination," Log Cabins' R. Clarke Cooper told the Washington Blade, a gay website. "I'm going to leave it broad like that because I think there's room for administrative action as well as legislative. I also think it's probably fair to say that legislation in a form of an ENDA or an ENDA-like legislation is certainly realistic."

Similar to Obama's position on gay marriage that "evolved" over the years, so has Romney's, but in the opposite direction. In 1994 while campaigning for a U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts, Romney said he supported gay marriage and a law barring discrimination of gays, but as a presidential candidate, he now says he believes marriage should be between one man and one woman.