Cacophony of Crickets from White House on Gay Marriage

COMMENTARY |Long ago, when I “followed” Richard Grenell on Twittter, I didn’t know he was a “somebody” and I didn’t know he was gay. I found out soon enough when Grenell’s resignation from a campaign position in the Romney campaign ignited controversy within the Republican Party. The Keen News Service quoted Log Cabin Republican head R. Clarke Cooper saying that Grenell resigned because he “was essentially hounded by the far right and far left.” Grenell’s editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal justifies my previous high opinion of the man. Grenell applauded President Obama for his public statement in support of gay marriage, but continued to criticize the administration’s foreign policy failures. I applaud Grenell for not hanging his hat on single issues of identity politics. This differentiates him from people who tend to vote based on single issues like skin color, sexual orientation, or religion. Grenell is not an anomaly among gay policy activists who vote Republican. A 2010 Keen News Service article cited data reflecting that the 2012 gay vote was moving in a Republican direction. In his editorial, Grenell points to the “conservative ideal of limiting government involvement in our lives…” Ironically, I justify my opposition to gay marriage by the same logic. Government should leave marriage to the clergy. Civil unions can effectively address practical and legal issues in a more direct manner than by a broad stroke of the federal brush. The courageous Grenell recognized he would be stoned by both left-wing and right-wing mullahs for not anchoring his political identity within a single issue. And he is. But if it’s hypocrisy regarding gay issues you’re looking for, you have to look no farther than President Obama, for it, against it, and for it again. Obama’s support for gay marriage was not well received by black clergy, according to Politico, so there is now a cacophony of crickets at the White House. The crickets chirped even louder when it was announced that Obama was not invited to the wedding of Barney Frank to partner Jim Ready. It is ridiculous for Frank to offer the press narrative that Obama was not invited to his wedding out of concern that the Secret Service would put a damper on wedding spirits. Obama simply wants to avoid the political downside of gay marriage wedding photos with the Dodd-Frank architect. .