Mitt Romney's decision to hire Richard
Grenell, an openly gay man, as a campaign spokesman continues to irk
Bryan Fischer, who took his case to CNN on Tuesday.
Grenell will serve as the the
campaign's national security and foreign policy spokesman, the Romney
campaign announced last Wednesday.
Fischer, a vocal opponent of gay rights
and the host of the AFA-hosted radio program Focal Point,
first tweeted his disapproval to his nearly 1,300 followers: “Romney
picks out & loud gay as a spokesman. If personnel is policy, his
message to the pro-family community: drop dead.”
He attacked Grenell, who has been
partnered for 10 years, on his Monday program, asserting that
homosexuals are about “short-lived relationships and frequent
anonymous sexual encounters.”
“Now, whether Grenell indulges in
that, I don't know,” he told his audience, before adding that gay
people are not monogamous.
He also asserted that Romney's faith
calls on him to condemn Grenell's sexual orientation.
“So, Mitt Romney's church teaches
this conduct is considered sinful. … Governor Romney do you agree
with the teachings of your church?”
“If you do, then what in the world
are you doing hiring somebody to be a public representative on your
behalf who has admitted to the entire world that he engaged in acts
that you believe are offensive to God?”
“Now, if you don't agree with your
church, then why should the evangelical community – why should the
pro-family community – give you any support whatsoever?”
Fischer continued his attacks during an
appearance on CNN, suggesting that the hire shows Romney supports gay
rights.
“Everybody in D.C. says that
personnel is policy. When Governor Romney picks somebody who is an
activist homosexual and puts him in a prominent position, he's
sending a shout out, it seems to me, to the homosexual lobby,”
Fischer told host Kyra Phillips.
R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of
the gay group Log Cabin Republicans, defended the hire, telling
Fischer, “Governor Romney didn't hire Ric because he's a
Protestant. He hired him because he's qualified as a national
security, foreign policy technocrat … Ric's [sexual] orientation
had nothing to do with the hiring process.” (The video is embedded
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