Grenell’s Prominence on the Right

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And many, many more accolades from the right.

6 Comments for “Grenell’s Prominence on the Right”

  1. posted by Jorge on

    Gay stick-in-the-muds have always set themselves up for greatness through sheer stubbornness and determination. There is both greater open-mindedness and greater closed-mindedness between the parties; who is to say which begot which?

    I think if anything epitomizes the partisan shift in the country, it’s not the greater acceptance of conservative gays by the right, it’s the acceptance of more outwardly subversive LGBT symbols such as Caitlyn Jenner (who isn’t really subversive at all, just a conservative who happens to have transitioned), Milo Yiannapoulos, and
    …..
    …..
    we’ve still some ways to go.

  2. posted by Tom Scharbach on

    It’s actually quite startling that an openly gay Republican has become so admired by so many conservatives. This represents quite a cultural shift, although LGBTQ progressives can’t, or won’t, acknowledge it.

    I don’t think that “LGBTQ progressives” are paying enough attention to notice or care whether or not “an openly gay Republican has become so admired by so many conservatives”.

    “LGBTQ progressives” focus their attention and energy on left/liberal politics, not conservative politics. Most “LGBTQ progressives” probably don’t even know who Richard Grenell is and almost certainly have no idea whether or not conservatives admire him or why.

    I understand why Grenell’s status among conservatives is important to conservative homosexuals, but this post reminds me of a question that Jews are often asked by conservative Christians: “What do Jews think about Jesus?”The answer, of course, is that most Jews don’t think about Jesus much at all, because Jesus is irrelevant to the religious concerns of Jews.

    I understand the impetus behind the “What do Jews think about Jesus?” question. Jesus is so central to conservative Christians that they cannot imagine that he isn’t as central to Jews. But that perspective is the result of thinking that everyone shares the Christian obsession with Jesus. It isn’t so.

    I suspect that something similar is at work in this post, and others like it. The status of Grenell and a handful of other “openly gay” conservative homosexuals holding positions of influence in conservative politics is of great importance to conservative homosexuals. I get that. But that doesn’t mean that the question is important to anyone other than conservative homosexuals.

    Gays and lesbians were absorbed into the mainstream of left/liberal politics many years ago. Few “LGBTQ progressives” give much thought to the issue of whether or not gays and lesbians “have a place at the table” in left/liberal politics. We do, as Pete Buttigieg’s campaign demonstrated, so “a place at the table” isn’t an issue for us any more.

    So it is easy for us to miss how “startling” it is that “an openly gay Republican has become so admired by so many conservatives”. Don’t read churlishness into indifference.

    As something of an aside, I took the time this morning to read a number of laudatory articles about Grenell in the conservative media (Fox News, Townhall, Real Clear Politics, Washington Examiner, Washington Times, and so on). Not one mentioned that Grenell is “openly gay”. It isn’t as conservative media are touting the issue, either. So maybe sexual orientation is a major issue for only two constituencies within the Republican Party — conservative homosexuals and conservative Christians.

    • posted by Jorge on

      “LGBTQ progressives” focus their attention and energy on left/liberal politics, not conservative politics.
      …
      But that perspective is the result of thinking that everyone shares the Christian obsession with Jesus. It isn’t so.

      I suspect that something similar is at work in this post, and others like it.

      Hmm, I don’t quite agree. I think LGBT progressives do have an obsession about conservative politics. It is simply that it is a selective, ignorant, and hypocritical one.

      If conservatives take two steps forward, one step back every year for five years on LGBT progressives’ political interests, LGBT progressives will, like all other special interest progressives, remember it as five steps back.

    • posted by Tom Scharbach on

      “If conservatives take two steps forward, one step back every year for five years on LGBT progressives’ political interests, LGBT progressives will, like all other special interest progressives, remember it as five steps back.”

      There is probably some truth to this, but keep the old axiom “Once Burned, Twice Cautious” in mind.

      The Republican Party, dominated by conservative Christians, has a long and almost unblemished record of opposition to “equal means equal” over the last forty-odd years.

      Gays and lesbians have been given no reason to trust or celebrate Republican politics/policies on LGBTQ issues. A few symbolic gestures (upside down Pride flags, Peter Thiel speaking for three minutes at the 2016 convention, and so on) can’t wipe out the party’s history (including during the Trump years) of opposing back on “equal means equal” at every turn.

      Just about the only “Red State” that has taken “one step forward” in any sort of systematic way is Utah, and that is dominated by the LDS, not conservative Christians.

      I, for one, don’t make any apologies for viewing Republicans with a jaundiced eye, not after dealing with years of opposition from Republicans on marriage equality, employment equality, public accommodations equality and all the rest.

  3. posted by Tom Scharbach on

    Speaking of “cultural shift”, I notice that the Republican candidates for Governor will participate in a forum on LGBTQ issues sponsored by Equality Utah.

    Utah, although conservative, is dominated by the LDS and the conservative Christians who dominate in Republican politics in other areas of the country, do not have as much influence in Utah, and probably accounts for the state’s relatively progressive legislation on LGBTQ issues:

    Despite the state’s reputation as a highly religious and politically conservative place, the Utah State Legislature has gradually passed LGBTQ rights bills including a landmark non-discrimination law for housing and employment, a hate crimes law and a repeal of laws banning even the discussion of homosexuality in classroom. Recently, Governor Gary Herbert pushed through an administrative rule to ban conversion therapy on minors (after the legislature failed to pass it).

    I hope that the “cultural shift” in Utah is a harbinger of the future of Republican politics.

    • posted by Jorge on

      The social culture in Salt Lake City is fascinating.

      It has very different blights and obsessions than I am used to learning about. Even though the LDS church is powerful, there seems to be limited segregation between the competing interests. Things are just said. In Southern cities I’ve usually (not always) seen a racial split on economic lines. There seems much more potential for barriers in political communication.

      Phoenix (never known for its liberalism) has kinda anti urban vs. not-urban feel, too, everyone comes into the metro area for everything and then drives back to its 10,000 tiny suburbs. It’s the weak mass transit system (or at least that’s a correlation). There’s something different about red states with weak (maybe medium) metro areas.

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