Servants of Misrule: Taking issue with Richard Grenell's mea culpa and grand old gaiety

Opinion: People in scorned social positions can sometimes transcend their subservient roles by their wit. This is no substitute for a liberation movement, but it can offer a ray of hope during dark times. ''Golden Age'' film actors Franklin Pangborn and Edward Everett Horton played comic supporting roles drenched in gay stereotypes, six decades before Sean Hayes on Will & Grace. Their confident performances, however, served as tacit rebukes not only to the equally foolish leading characters, but to film censors. Much has changed in 80 years, but the ruling class can still mistreat its gay servants. This came to mind last week when Richard Grenell, Mitt Romney's sharp-tongued, openly gay foreign policy spokesman, resigned after denunciations from the radical right. It was not the 'phobes themselves who appear to have prompted his departure, but the boss's refusal to reproach them, coupled with the campaign putting Grenell on ice. Romney's failure to back Grenell against his party's extreme fringe demonstrated how that fringe holds him and the rest of the GOP hostage. Romney's staffing decisions certainly don't compare well with President Obama's gay hires, from Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry to White House social secretary Jeremy Bernard. But my question is why a gay person was eager to help the Republican Party in the first place. ... (more)

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