Jul 17, 2024; Milwaukee, WI; Ric Grenell, Former Acting Director of National Intelligence during the third day of the Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum Photo: Jasper Colt-USA TODAY
Ric Grenell, a gay man who was acting director of national intelligence for about two months during the Trump administration, spoke on day three of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, telling the audience that Donald Trump doesn’t actually care about anyone’s sexuality or gender, despite his anti-LGBTQ+ policy positions.
Grenell is the only out gay person scheduled to speak at the RNC this week and one of only two LGBTQ+ people, along with out bisexual rapper Amber Rose, speaking at the event that features dozens of speakers.
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“Donald Trump doesn’t care if you’re gay or straight, Black, brown or white, or what gender you are,” he said, the last claim standing in strong contrast to other speakers at the RNC who repeatedly attacked many people’s genders. “He knows that we are all Americans and that it’s time to put America first.”
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That is the only reference Grenell made to LGBTQ+ people. Most of his speech was focused on foreign policy, claiming that Republicans “were misled about weapons of mass destruction” in the 2000s. His use of the passive voice obscured the fact that it was former President George W. Bush’s administration that falsely argued that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in order to justify the 2003 invasion of that country. Grenell himself served in the Bush administration.
He also claimed that Biden is helping Iran with “waging a war in Israel and Gaza.” There is no evidence for this claim. Grenell also said that “Joe Biden’s radical supporters have overtaken our universities, burning American flags, cheering for terrorists and calling for violent revolution,” even though many of the pro-Palestine activists he is referring to vocally oppose Biden.
Grenell did not mention the Trump administration’s alleged attempt to decriminalize homosexuality in other countries, a program that he has proudly touted in the past. The decriminalization campaign was called out as a sham by LGBTQ+ advocates who said it wasn’t doing anything.
Despite Grenell’s implication that Trump is indifferent to LGBTQ+ people, Trump has already taken anti-LGBTQ+ policy stances as part of his “Agenda 47,” which lays out his campaign’s plans for his possible second term.
On one page, Trump promises to pass a federal law banning what he characterizes as “child sexual mutilation” — despite the fact that gender-affirming surgeries are almost never performed on minors — and to “ask Congress to permanently stop federal taxpayer dollars from being used to promote or pay for these procedures.”
He also pledges to “ask Congress to pass a bill establishing that the only genders recognized by the United States government are male and female — and they are assigned at birth,” and says he will direct the Department of Education “to inform states and school districts that if any teacher or school official suggests to a child that they could be trapped in the wrong body, they will be faced with severe consequences, including, potential Civil Rights violations for sex discrimination, and the elimination of federal funding.”
