Richard Grenell: Gay Republican who aims to decriminalise homosexuality globally
Richard Grenell, US ambassador to Germany, gives a speech as he attends a congress of the Junge Union (JU), the youth wing of Germany’s conservative CDU/CSU union, on October 5, 2018 in Kiel, northern Germany. (DANIEL BOCKWOLDT/AFP/Getty Images)
Richard Grenell is the United States Ambassador to Germany. He became the first openly gay spokesman for a Republican presidential candidate in 2012, when he served under Mitt Romney.
Grenell, who has been the US Ambassador to Germany since September 2017, recently made headlines as he is seeking to decriminalise homosexuality around the world.
Grenell will lead the effort to make homosexuality legal in every country, according to NBC News.
The plan was prompted by the hanging of a gay man in Iran.
Grenell wrote in German newspaper Bild that the hanging “should be a wakeup call for anyone who supports basic human rights.”
US Ambassador Richard Grenell (L), his partner Matt Lashey (R) and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin, Germany, on May 08, 2018. (ODD ANDERSEN/AFP/Getty)
He added: “This is not the first time the Iranian regime has put a gay man to death with the usual outrageous claims of prostitution, kidnapping, or even paedophilia. And it sadly won’t be the last time they do it either.
“Barbaric public executions are all too common in a country where consensual homosexual relationships are criminalised and punishable by flogging and death.”
Grenell wrote that in the Muslim-majority country, “gay teenagers are publically hanged in order to terrify and intimidate others from coming out.
“Iran’s horrific actions are on par with the brutality and savagery regularly demonstrated by ISIS.”
And looking back at Grenell’s political career, in 2001, the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government graduate was appointed by George W. Bush to be the US spokesman at the United Nations. He then became the longest-serving person in the role until he left in 2008.
It was after that he became the national security and foreign affairs adviser to Mitt Romney during his 2012 presidential campaign.
Richard Grenell’s same-sex Relationship with partner Matt Lashey
The openly gay representative of President Donald Trump’s administration is in a relationship with his longtime partner Matt Lashey.
While Grenell, 52, keeps his personal life under wraps, it’s indicated that he has been with his partner for over 16 years.
In 2014, his partner Lashey tweeted photos with his partner reading: “12 years and counting with @RichardGrenell.” This suggests that later this year, the couple will be going onto their 17th year together.
12 years and counting with @RichardGrenell #GenerousFaithfulLoyalSupportiveSmartFunnyHandsome pic.twitter.com/83u9JuRCtC
— Matt Lashey (@mattlashey) August 2, 2014
Lashey is the CEO of Treatment Technologies & Insights which created ChemoWave, an app for cancer patients going through chemotherapy.
The couple appeared together on Fox News to discuss the app.
Watch Richard Grenell and Matt Lashey below:
Richard Grenell is a cancer survivor
In 2013, Grenell was devastated to be diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Later that year, he announced he was in remission. This is what inspired the app to help patients track their chemotherapy activities and treatment.
On January 20, 2019, Grenell posted a photo on Instagram regarding his previous fight with cancer.
View this post on Instagram
He wrote: “How about the 5 year challenge to show how cancer thinks it has you but it doesn’t? #beatcancer #cityofhope”
