Richard

Grenell

a Republican adviser to the former president

Donald

Trump who has criticized the Equality Act and railed against the rights of transgender youthwho was honored Monday on the California Senate floor in the name of Pride Month.

The recognition of Grenell, who is gay, by California Republicans was protested by members of the state’s Democratic legislative majority, with several lawmakers quietly walking off the floor at the short ceremony honoring him as “the first openly gay presidential cabinet member” .

Grenell is a former US Ambassador to Germany and was welcomed by Senator Minority Leader Senator Brian Jones (R-Santee) and Republican

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Assembly members Bill Essayli of Corona,

riverside,

Tom Lackey of Palmdale and Greg Wallis of

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.

Rancho Mirage.

“During Pride Month, we are proud to recognize Ambassador Grenell for his incredible contributions to the state and nation during his extensive career in public service,” Essayli said. “Here in the Republican Party, we celebrate individual achievement over identity politics.”

Grenell briefly served as acting director of national intelligence for the Trump administration in 2020. Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of Transportation, a Democrat, also claims to be the first openly gay presidential cabinet member, and unlike Grenell, was confirmed by the United States Senate.

Grenell has repeatedly embraced right-wing disinformation and has called Trump the most pro-gay president ever.

Sen Scott

Viennese

(D-San Francisco) was among members of the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus who left the Senate floor Monday and viewed the Grenell recognition as a direct response to drag activists honored in the Legislature earlier this month.

State Republicans opposed the recognition of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulggence on the Assembly and Senate floors, asking Senate Majority Leader Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) to withdraw their invitation to the Capitol, accusing them of mocking Catholicism. The well-known drag group wears nun clothing and has been committed to AIDS victims for decades.

The controversy followed a similar uproar in Los Angeles,

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the Dodgers said they would recognize the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence with a

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department, then replied the

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amid criticism from Catholics, and eventually reinstated it with a promise to strengthen ties with the LGBTQ+ community.

“This is their way of celebrating Pride, by bringing in a guy who is truly a gay-hating gay, who takes countless anti-LGBTQ positions,” Wiener said in an interview at the Capitol on Monday. “There are plenty of gay Republicans who don’t do the unhinged stuff [Grenell] do. I’m not going to lump all gay Republicans with the same brush, he’s a very mean person.”

In a tweet responding to criticism from Wiener, who is also openly gay, Grenell said “it’s an honor to be your enemy” and called him “an apologist for pedophilia and child abuse”, echoing the baseless right-wing QAnon conspiracy theories about the senator.

At a news conference outside the Capitol held by state Republicans to celebrate Grenell, the former Trump administration official denounced Democratic policies and what he called “the gay left-wing mafia.”

“Inherent in the word ‘tolerance’ is ‘to tolerate.’ It doesn’t mean you agree, it means you tolerate someone else’s opinion. That means you don’t get up and walk away when they are honored,” he said . “…They just can’t be in the same room as someone destroying their worldview.”

When asked if he also thought it was bigoted that California Republicans left the floor while the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgggence were similarly honored for Pride Month, Grenell said he has liberal friends and that he “can’t get out of the room” because of differing viewpoints . .

The dueling Pride Month events at the California State Capitol come as the state enforcers of the strongest gay rights policy in the country and more LGBTQ+ legislators are in office than ever before.

Grenell’s visit to the state capitol came on the same day that the California Assembly passed ACA 5, which, if approved by voters, would repeal a portion of the state constitution that states that marriage is between a man and a woman. While same-sex marriage is protected at the federal and state levels, the constitutional amendment would reaffirm marriage equality, supporters say.

Other lawmakers who left the Senate floor on Monday include Senator Caroline Menjivar (D-Panorama City), Senator Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton) and Senate President Pro Tem Atkins.

Atkins, who is openly gay, said that while she and her fellow Democrats are “absolutely against the toxic polarization that Richard Grenell embodies,” they didn’t solicit him uninvited.

“Senate Democrats are strong enough in our convictions to recognize that there are others with different perspectives,” she said.