Former gay Trump advisor is furious Joe Biden didn’t select a queer running mate – all the while missing the glaringly obvious
Kamala Harris (Mason Trinca/Getty) and Joe Biden (Mark Wilson/Getty)
Richard Grenell, a gay former Trump official and ardent supporter of the president, has hit out at Joe Biden for failing to select a queer running mate, all the while ignoring Trump’s appalling track record on LGBT+ rights.
Grenell, a former ambassador to Germany who briefly served as acting director for national intelligence, lashed out at Biden after the Democratic nominee revealed that Kamala Harris will be his running mate in a history-making move.
Biden’s selection makes Kamala Harris the first Black woman and the first Asian-American to run on a major party’s presidential ticket.
But this isn’t good enough for Grenell, who has decided to hold Biden to much higher standards than Trump by insisting that the Democrat should have selected a gay running mate.
“Joe Biden clearly still thinks gays are security risks. No gays or lesbians even considered,” Grenell tweeted.
He also shared a Fox News article from June which alleged that Biden called gay people “security risks” in 1973.
Richard Grenell hit out at Joe Biden for the history-making move to make Kamala Harris his running mate.
Notably, Grenell’s latest comments come just weeks after he said efforts to increase LGBT+ representation in politics were “dangerous and offensive”.
In a series of tweets last month, Grenell hit out at the Victory Fund, which supports LGBT+ candidates to tackle the under-representation of queer people in US politics.
He raged: “This thinking is dangerous and offensive because it assumes all gay people think alike. Gay is NOT an ideaology [sic].”
Grenell then accused the leadership of Victory Fund of making the group “totally partisan,” adding: “It shouldn’t get tax exempt status, actually.”
He then tagged the International Revenue Service (IRS) and said: “It’s time your tax exempt status is revoked”.
Victory Fund was forced to point out that it is, in fact, not tax exempt and it is not bound by neutrality.
Despite Grenell’s apparent distaste for efforts to increase LGBT+ representation in politics, he seemingly believes Biden should have picked a gay running mate specifically to increase LGBT+ representation in politics.
Yes. That makes sense.
The former Trump advisor happily ignores Donald Trump’s track record on LGBT+ rights.
Grenell’s tweet also conveniently ignores Trump’s appalling track record on LGBT+ rights.
Trump has consistently rolled back LGBT+ rights, with trans rights coming under a microscopic lens during his tenure in the White House.
Throughout his presidency, Trump has banned trans people from serving in the military; his Department of Education has argued that trans youth playing school sports violates the civil rights of cisgender youth; and he has been accused by civil rights organisations of using the guise of religious freedom to undermine LGBT+ protections.
Last year, his Department of Justice filed briefs to the Supreme Court arguing that it should be legal to fire trans people because of their gender identity, and hate crimes reached a decade high.
Despite all of this – and much, much more – Grenell is happy to hold Biden to a higher standard than Trump, all the while ignoring the fact that Trump’s very own president Mike Pence is notoriously anti-LGBT+.
Responding to suggestions yesterday that the Trump administration is not diverse, Grenell heaped praise on the president because he, a gay man, briefly served in his cabinet.
Apparently this is enough for Grenell to wipe the slate clean and pretend that Trump cares about the LGBT+ community.
