Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is all about repressing gay rights now, but was his position on this current hot topic the same as 12 years ago?

Mitt is under scrutiny after the re-emergence of a letter he wrote during his 1994 run for U.S. Senate in which he promised a gay Republicans group he would be a stronger advocate for gays than Sen. Edward Kennedy, who he ultimately lost to that November.

These views are in contrast with his current opposition to gay marriage as Romney positions himself as a committed conservative in preparation for an expected 2008 run for the Republican presidential nomination.

The 1994 letter was written to the Log Cabin Club of Massachusetts, a gay Republican group, when Romney courted gay voters during his unsuccessful campaign against Kennedy, according to the Associated Press.

Citing Kennedy’s record of advocacy for gays and lesbians, Romney wrote:

“For some voters, it might be enough to simply match my opponent’s record in this area. But I believe we can and must do better. If we are to achieve the goals we share, we must make equality for gays and lesbians a mainstream concern. My opponent cannot do this. I can and will.”

A gay-oriented Massachusetts newspaper, Bay Windows, has also released a transcript of a 1994 interview with Romney during the Senate race in which he pledged strong advocacy for the gay community.

“I think the gay community needs more support from the Republican party, and I would be a voice in the Republican party to foster anti-discrimination efforts,” Romney said, according to the transcript.

In the same interview, Romney said he opposed then-U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms’ legislative amendment to ban federal funding for public schools that support homosexuality as a lifestyle alternative.

“I don’t think the federal government has any business dictating to local school boards what their curriculum or practices should be,” Romney said, according to the transcript.

“I think that’s a dangerous precedent in general. I would have opposed that. It also grossly misunderstands the gay community by insinuating that there’s an attempt to proselytize a gay lifestyle on the part of the gay community.”

Romney also said he supported President Bill Clinton’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy regarding gays serving in the armed forces, describing it as “the first in a number of steps that will ultimately lead to gays and lesbians being able to serve openly and honestly in our nation’s military.”

Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council, said Romney’s comments were “quite disturbing.”

“This is going to create a lot of problems for Governor Romney,” he told The New York Times. “He is going to have a hard time overcoming this.”

Noted conservative Paul Weyrich told The Times, “Unless he comes out with an abject repudiation of this, I think it makes him out to be a hypocrite.”

Romney was wrapping up a weeklong trip to Asia on Saturday and could not be reached for comment. In an e-mail statement, a spokesman said as governor, Romney has never advocated changing the military’s policy toward gays and has consistently supported traditional values.

Romney recently became a plaintiff in a lawsuit that will force the state Legislature to vote on a constitutional amendment that would reverse the state’s landmark 2003 court ruling legalizing gay marriage. State lawmakers have refused to vote on the amendment, effectively killing it.

Arline Isaacson, co-chair of the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, said she cautioned gay and lesbians against believing Romney’s overtures in 1994, and said conservatives shouldn’t trust him, either.

“He can’t be trusted,” she said. “Because if it is politically expedient for him to swing to his right or swing to his left, he will do it.”