July 22, 2020

'Gay is NOT an Ideaology' - Out Trump Appointee Richard Grenell Feuds with LGBTQ Activist Group

Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 3 MIN.

Richard Grenell, the openly gay former Ambassador to Germany and onetime acting director of national intelligence for the Trump administration, got into a Twitter feud with the LGBTQ Victory Fund, an organization that supports non-heterosexual and non-cisgender political candidates.

The tiff started with Grenell retweeting a post from ABC News in which the network observed that in order for LGTBQ political officeholders to be reflected in government at the same proportion as LGBTQs are thought to exist in proportion to America's heterosexual and cisgender population, it would be necessary for "at least 22,000 LGBTQ candidates [to] be elected" nationwide, at various levels of government.

Grenell lashed out at this, posting, "This thinking is dangerous and offensive because it assumes all gay people think alike" - even though the news outlet had made no claims about what party those 22,000 elected officials ought to represent or what their specific platforms should be.

Grenell went on to add: "Gay is NOT an ideaology." [sic]

The LGBTQ Victory Fund seemed to riposte to this with a tweet that read:

"It costs $0 to love yourself."

Added the LGBTQ Victory Fund:

"@RichardGrenell
, you oughta try it sometime."

The floodgates opened for multitudes of replies and comments, with users of all political standpoints weighing in.

But the main event continued apace, with Grenell and the Victory Fund sparring over whether the group was partisan in its endorsements. The Victory Fund acknowledged that "We endorse far fewer Republicans than Dems," but added, "that's because so few LGBTQ people are running as Republicans.

"This is about the candidates that are running right now, not about our endorsement process. We endorse pro-equality, pro-choice GOP candidates."

Grenell fired back with:

"Why didn't you endorse @carldemaio?"

Carl DiMaio, an openly gay candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, featured his partner in a 2014 political advertisement. DiMaio lost that election to incumbent Scott Peters.

Media sources reporting on Grenell's question to the LGBTQ Victory Fund noted that DiMaio had not sought an endorsement from the group

Added Grenell:

"You should have to explain this to the IRS. @IRStaxpros"

That jab fell flat, however. As the LGBTQ Victory Fund explained:

"We are a 527 political organization! We are NOT tax-exempt!"

In other words, unlike churches - which in theory need to refrain from political endorsements due to their tax-exempt status - the LGBTQ Victory Fund is free to endorse whomever they please.

Added the Victory Fund:

"We are non-partisan because we choose to be, not because we have to be."

by Kilian Melloy

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