Billl White, a prominent, openly-gay Mitt Romney donor, has decided to pull his support for the governor and is now backing President Barack Obama.
“I feel that I no longer wish to support your presidential campaign and ask that you please return the maximum contribution that I gave to you last year,” White wrote in a letter addressed to Romney that CNN obtained.
White, who had donated $2500 to the Romney campaign, is the chairman and CEO of the New York-based consulting firm Constellations Group. He was the president of the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum.
It was Romney’s commencement address at Liberty University last Saturday that was the turning point for White.
“…to a packed stadium of young college students you made the following statement that ‘Marriage is only between one man and one woman,’” White wrote. “I believe that you will do as you now say and try to force a constitutional amendment which would attempt to make my own legal and blessed marriage null and void.”
In fact, White had never planned on supporting Obama until the president came out in support of same-sex marriage. White said he felt that Romney “had declared war” on his marriage to Joseph Eure. “And I could just sit back and not say anything. Or I could do something about it. And I’ve chosen to do something about it.”
White is a registered independent and has donated money to both President Bushes and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Reuters reports. He doesn’t consider himself an activist, “But I am married and that’s that. You should be able to marry who you love.”
