Did Brad Pitt’s Mom Author Anti-Gay Letter? Conflicting Reports Could Put Mother At Odds With Son

Though Brad Pitt has staunchly thrown his weight and star-power behind gay-rights issues, a recent letter to a local newspaper shows that his mother may not feel the same way.

Responding to an earlier letter to Springfield’s News-Leader, in which a reader encouraged voters to shut out Mitt Romney due to his Mormon beliefs, a “Jane Pitt” wrote words in defense of Romney, saying that as a voter, she’d be willing to overlook differences in religion in favor of a strong stance on a key issue: gay rights.

“I think any Christian should spend much time in prayer before refusing to vote for a family man with high morals, business experience, who is against abortion, and shares Christian conviction concerning homosexuality just because he is a Mormon,” said the letter to Brad Pitt’s hometown paper. “Any Christian who does not vote or writes in a name is casting a vote for Romney’s opponent, Barack Hussein Obama — a man who sat in Jeremiah Wright’s church for years, did not hold a public ceremony to mark the National Day of Prayer, and is a liberal who supports the killing of unborn babies and same-sex marriage.”

These views stand in direct conflict with those held by Brad Pitt and his fiancee Angelina Jolie, who have long been proponents of equal rights for homosexuals, once vowing that they themselves would not marry until homosexual couples could enjoy the same right.

“No state should decide who can marry and who cannot,” said Pitt last year after the passage of marriage-equality laws in New York, “thanks to the tireless work of so many, someday soon this discrimination will end and every American will be able to enjoy their equal right to marriage.”

So was the letter indeed penned by Brad Pitt’s mama? E!Online seems to think so, saying that they have confirmed that the letter’s author “is indeed the Oscar nominee’s mother.” However, according to InstinctMagazine, an editor at the Springfield News-Leader redacted such confirmation, and that “the Jane Pitt willing to overlook Mitt Romney’s Mormonism because of his strong anti-gay “values” is not Brad’s momma.” Towleroad is somewhere in between – not sure what to make of the mess just like us.

Was it really Brad Pitt’s mom? Are the name and hometown coincidental? $5 and a platonic cyber-hug to whoever can set the record straight. Sound off!

UPDATE: The E! story confirming the story has mysteriously disappeared… perhaps it was a coincidence after all? ThinkProgress has set the record straight as well, confirming that the “Jane Pitt” who wrote the letter is not THE Jane Pitt, despite sharing the same name and hometown.

UPDATE OF THE UPDATE: It’s Brad Pitt’s mom. For real. Thanks E!. Head hurty.