activist judges. Nevertheless, he does support laws at the state level, including hate crime laws at the state level, that protect LGBT people from discrimination. As Governor of Massachusetts, Romney was mixed on gay rights. He signed a proclamation declaring May 15 to be "Gay/Straight Youth Pride Day." He signed an official proclamation to support gay pride marches connected to his gay and lesbian youth commission in 2003 and 2004. He appointed two gay-rights activists as judges. He also "provided legal protection to same-sex couples in Massachusetts." MassEquality reported however that he rescinded an executive order prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination in the state workforce and abolished a commission on GLBT Youth Ultimately, Romney decided to keep the GLBT commission but limit its authority and actions. In 2018, Romney was criticized by some conservatives during his campaign for Utah Senate because of his decision to support a pride day for gay and straight youth. Romney has changed positions on the "Don't ask, don't tell" military policy. In 1994 he said he looked forward to the day gays and lesbians can serve "openly and honestly" in the military but in 2007 he reversed, saying in a GOP Primary debate that he supported the policy and it was "not the time" for gay and lesbian service-members to serve openly. He repeatedly refused to answer whether he still "looked forward" to such a time. Speaking in 2007 to NBC's Meet the Press, Romney said "I don't believe in discriminating against someone based upon their sexual orientation ... And so I would be effective in trying to bring greater recognition of the, of the rights of people not, not to be discriminated against". He said this should be done at the state level. In December 2011, Romney told the Des Moines Register that now that the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy has been repealed, "I'm not planning on reversing that at this stage. I was not comfortable making the change during a period of conflict, due to the complicating features of a new program in the middle of two wars going on, but those wars are winding down, and moving in that direction at this stage no longer presents that problem." In 2012, while running for president as the Republican nominee, Mitt Romney supported the inclusion of gay youth in the Boy Scouts of America. His 2012 campaign initially hired an openly gay spokesperson, Richard