California Senate Resolution 33 proclaims June 2023 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) Pride Month. Things didn’t go exactly as planned.
“This is their way of celebrating Pride, by bringing in a guy who is truly a self-hating gay man, who takes tons of anti-LGBTQ positions. There are plenty of gay Republicans who don’t do the unhinged things that [Ric Grenell] does. I’m not lumping all gay Republicans together – he is a particularly vile person.” This Grenell is also a “scam artist pink-washer for Trump and & spreads anti-LGBTQ, anti-vax, election-denier conspiracy theories.”
That was state Sen. Scott Weiner, San Francisco Democrat, in the run-up to a June 26 event at the state capitol. In case people wonder, there’s more to the man than gratuitous abuse. Sen. Weiner is the author of Senate Bill 145, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September 2020.
The measure exempts from mandatory registration under the state’s sex offender registration act, “a person convicted of certain offenses involving minors if the person is not more than 10 years older than the minor and if that offense is the only one requiring the person to register.” Sen. Weiner has elsewhere clarified the “certain offenses” involving minors.
“If an 18-year-old man is convicted of consensual, vaginal sex with a 16-year-old girl, it would be up to a judge and prosecutors whether he would need to register as a sex offender,” Sen. Weiner told reporters. “But if an 18-year-old man is convicted of having consensual, oral or anal sex with a 16-year-old boy, the sex offender registry is automatic. LGBTQ young people are being forced onto the sex offender registry in situations where straight kids are not.”
San Diego Democrat Lorena Gonzalez said, “I still have never seen a single instance in which a 24-year-old should be having sex with a 14-year-old,” but it’s okay under Sen. Weiner’s ten-year plan. This is the man who calls Ric Grenell a “particularly vile person.” People might wonder how that squares with his record.
As Bruce Bawer noted in 2020, Grenell is “America’s Gay Hero,” with distinguished service as U.S. ambassador to Germany and director of national intelligence. It was acting DNI Grenell who “declassified the list of Obama Administration officials who, in the interval between the 2016 election and the Trump inaugural, requested the ‘unmasking’ of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s choice for National Security Advisor, so they could listen in on his phone calls.”
“As Pride month neared an end,” reported Katy Grimes of the California Globe, “Republican lawmakers announced they were honoring Ambassador Grenell, the first openly gay presidential cabinet member, for his accomplishments and stellar career in service to the country.” Weiner’s screed prompted a walkout by Democrats Caroline Menjivar, Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, Henry Stern, Toni Atkins, and Sen. Weiner his own self.
“It’s an honor to be your enemy,” Grenell responded. “You are a radical voice against common sense, decency and parental rights. You are an apologist for pedophilia [and] child abuse – and you undermine American values.”
Grenell also expressed concern that minor children are being coerced into gender transitioning. “It’s child abuse,” the former DNI said, “and a parental rights issue.”
Earlier in June, the state senate held an LGBTQ recognition ceremony with Sister Roma of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Sen. Weiner blamed “right-wing extremists” and “bigoted extremists” for tearing down Target displays.
Berkeley Democrat Nancy Skinner used the occasion to proclaim that right-wing extremists were “trying to undo LGBTQ rights.” Menlo Park Democrat Josh Becker charged that “rising homophobia and transphobia coincides with antisemitism and white supremacy.” And so on.
As Grimes noted, Democrats recognized the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence for their identity. By contrast, the June 26 event recognized accomplishment. Honorees included rugby athletes from Cal State Sacramento, but when it came to Ric Grenell “decorum fell to the wayside” and tolerance was nowhere in evidence.
“I’ve made it clear that I am not asking for special treatment or special rights — just equal access and consideration,” said Grenell in a 2020 interview. It is important to me that I not be defined by my sexual orientation — I want to be defined by my experience and skills. It undercuts all that I want to do in my career when I’m narrowly defined as a gay ambassador. I’d rather be known as the ambassador who got Germany to ban Hezbollah and finally take back the Nazi prison guard living in the U.S. for over a decade.”
As Bruce Bawer explains, Ric Grenell “negates the leftist obsession with group identity, and by serving his country, his president, and the cause of justice so spectacularly well, he provides a stellar role model for other gay Americans who don’t want to be defined by their sexual orientation but by the content of their character and the value of their contribution to the common good.”