Richard Grenell
Ric Grenell has been confirmed by the Senate to be the U.S. ambassador to Germany. The vote was 56-42.
Democrats opposed the nomination because of a series of tweets by Grenell criticizing the appearance of a number of women. Those tweets were deleted and Grenell has apologized for them.
Gregory Angelo, president of Log Cabin Republicans, has been supporting the nomination and called the confirmation historic.
Grenell “is now the highest ranking openly-gay official ever to serve in a Republican administration,” Angelo wrote to Log Cabin supporters.
In a opinion piece on the Fox News website, Angelo also noted that no other LGBT advocacy groups or LGBT advocates rallied around Grenell’s nomination other than Stuart Milk, co-founder of the Harvey Milk Foundation.
During the 2012 presidential campaign, Grenell was hired by the Mitt Romney campaign as a foreign policy spokesperson, but resigned after less than two weeks due to pressure because of his sexual orientation.
The confirmation comes just before a state visit to the U.S. by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
— David Taffet