After only 2 weeks on the job, Richard Grenell topped news headlines this year when he resigned as the openly gay national security spokesman for the Mitt Romney campaign. Now he is talking about that experience for the first time.
Grenell denies popular belief that he was forced out, although he acknowledges he took heat from both the political left and the right.
In a recent interview, Grenell said “The far left doesn’t want a gay person to be conservative and the far right doesn’t want a conservative to be gay. Some of the most hateful, mean-spirited intolerant comments about me being the foreign policy and national security spokesman for Governor Romney … were coming from the left.”
Grenell’s thoughts against “mean-spirited” comments have come under fire, after his controversial tweet about openly-gay MSNBC newscaster Rachel Maddow, which angered many fellow gays and lesbians. Grenell mocked Maddow as being too masculine and a lesbian stereotype, saying, “Rachel Maddow needs to take a breath and put on a necklace.” His comments brought a swift response from influential gay journalist Michaelangelo Signorile, who wrote in The Huffington Post, “It was the kind of crack many would expect from a homophobic straight guy.”
But it was the far right that cheered the loudest after Grenell’s resignation. Leading the celebration was the conservative American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer, who called Grenell’s resignation a “huge win for us.” Conservative or not, they do not want a homosexual working for their causes.
Still, Grenell denies he was forced out by social conservatives, noting that he’s been an openly-gay Republican spokesman for decades. Ironically, Grenell continues to support Romney over President Obama, despite the fact that Grenell’s support of same-sex marriage is more in line with Mr. Obama’s position than Romney’s.
Shortly after Grenell was named Romney's foreign policy spokesperson, Think Progress posted the following:"New Romney Spokesman Used Twitter For Sexist Attacks"Presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s new foreign policy spokesperson Richard Grenell has an odd penchant for targeting the wives of male politicians and women in general on Twitter.Grenell, who served as George W. Bush’s spokesperson at the UN and was announced as the Romney campaign’s new representative yesterday, has gone after Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Callista Gingrich, Sandra Fluke and others. He also asserted that President Obama’s children should be fair game for political debate. A selection of his thoughts on women:tweet: rachel maddow needs to take a breath and put on a necklacetweet; Hillary is starting to look liek Madeline Albrighttweet: Obama: No Condom Left Behindtweet: the media outlets that aren't reporting on the first daughters should remember that when obama talks about them on the campaign trail.In another comment, that has since <span>been removed</span>, Grennell discussed… Read more »