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Ric Grenell in ’92: ‘Only whores and very small children wear red shoes’

Trump’s gay nominee has history of derogatory comments about women

Published

8 years ago

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Richard Grenell said in 1992: “Only whores and very small children wear red shoes.”
(Screen capture public domain)

President Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to Germany — the first major openly gay appointment of the administration — came under fire in the recent past for snide comments on Twitter about the physical appearance of several prominent women — but a 1995 Washington Post profile story on him reveals he was making such comments long before the arrival of social media.

The more than 20-year-old profile piece on Ric Grenell, sent to the Washington Blade on Saturday, takes a look at his personality long before the Trump nominee served as spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the United Nations during the George W. Bush administration or as a Fox News commentator. The piece was written during Grenell’s days as press secretary to Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) at the dawn of the “Gingrich Revolution.”

A key portion of the profile quotes Laurie Blackford, then a producer for Chris Matthews long before he came to MSNBC, recalling remarks Grenell allegedly made to a fellow campaign staffer on the 1992 Bush-Quayle re-election campaign.

“One of our staff people came in and had on a flowery dress and red shoes and Ric looked at her and said, ‘Didn’t your mother ever tell you only whores and very small children wear red shoes?'” Blackford is quoted as saying.

At the time the profile piece was written three years later, the Post sought a response on the remarks from Grenell, who acknowledged them as a joke.

“You know that was a joke,” Grenell is quoted as saying while chuckling. “But come on. Red shoes?”

The remarks are consistent with comments Grenell has made about women on Twitter. One 2011 tweet directed at Rachel Maddow, the lesbian MSNBC host, said she “needs to take a breath and put on a necklace” and another compared her look to that of pop singer Justin Bieber.

One tweet directed at Callista Gingrich questioned whether she “snaps on” her hair. At around the same time, Grenell tweeted Hillary Clinton “is starting to look like Madeleine Albright.”

Grenell, who also has a history of antagonizing reporters on Twitter, deleted and apologized for those tweets years ago during his brief tenure of several days with Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. Although some point to the tweets as the reason he didn’t last long with the campaign, others say the appointment of a gay person to the GOP campaign was nixed after objections from anti-gay activists.

During Grenell’s confirmation hearing last week, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) queried him about his comments on Twitter about women, asking him if he regrets those words and can understand the concern about the impact they’ll have on his role in Germany.

“Anybody who knows me knows that I am a very caring person and very sensitive — and I also appreciate good humor,” Grenell said in response. “Unfortunately, there are times where what was intended to be humorous turned out to be not so humorous, and, again, that was never my intention and I regret that.”

The 1995 Post profile piece — written before Grenell met his partner of 15 years, Matt Lashey — never mentions Grenell’s sexual orientation.

The article, titled “Republican Party Animal,” says the then 28-year-old Grenell “is not really in the market for a relationship” between “working out twice a day, playing softball with Hill friends and just getting through each day’s work.”

“I have no time,” Grenell is quoted as saying. “It wouldn’t be fair.”

The article also quotes Blackford as saying Grenell was “the most perfect-looking person — perfectly pressed and dressed.”

Despite Grenell’s support for Trump and other GOP presidential candidates, the article calls him a fan of then-first lady Hillary Clinton.

But the article also quotes Grenell as expressing consternation over the election of Bill Clinton in 1992 over incumbent President George H.W. Bush.

“I don’t even like it when people say Clinton won. A majority of the people did not vote for him,” Grenell is quoted as saying. “Not only had my candidate lost, but I also lost my job. I felt that we had truly let President Bush down and I was depressed.”

Grenell didn’t respond to the Blade’s request for comment on the 1992 remarks about women at the time of his nomination to the Trump administration. Although the Senate has held a confirmation hearing, it has yet to hold a vote on his confirmation as U.S. ambassador to Germany.

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Ecuador

Adolescentes trans en Ecuador podrán cambiar datos en su cédula, pero con condicionamientos

Pueden modificar el campo de género en su documento de identidad con requisitos

Published

2 hours ago

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March 13, 2026

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Edición Cientonce es el socio mediático del Washington Blade en Ecuador. Esta nota salió en su sitio web el 12 de marzo.

Por VICTOR H. CARREÑO | En una sentencia del 5 de febrero de 2026, la Corte Constitucional declaró inconstitucional el requisito legal de mayoría de edad para modificar el campo de sexo o género en la cédula de identidad y fija lineamientos para que adolescentes trans puedan cambiar estos datos.

El máximo organismo de control e interpretación constitucional incorpora dos requerimientos: que la persona adolescente se presente al procedimiento administrativo con sus padres y que informes psicosociales acrediten un grado de madurez.

El fallo resuelve una consulta de constitucionalidad de una unidad judicial que lleva una acción de protección contra el Registro Civil presentada por la familia de un adolescente trans que solicitó, en junio de 2023, modificar el campo de género en la cédula.

La institución se negó porque la Ley Orgánica de Gestión de la Identidad y Datos Civiles establece que la rectificación de sexo o género es un procedimiento para personas mayores de 18 años.

El adolescente, cuya identidad se protege en la sentencia, cuenta con el apoyo de sus padres en su transición, que inició en 2020. En una audiencia, su madre expuso que si bien en el ámbito familiar y en el sistema educativo se respeta la identidad de su hijo, fuera de estos hay situaciones, como en consultas médicas en el Seguro Social, en que debe presentar la cédula de él y quienes la reciben preguntan si es el documento equivocado.

En el desarrollo de la sentencia, la Corte expone por qué el requisito de tener mayoría de edad para acceder a la modificación de datos en la cédula es inconstitucional.

Entre varios motivos, explica que restringe los derechos al libre desarrollo de la personalidad e identidad, que la edad no puede exigirse como “criterio determinante y único” para determinar la madurez de un adolescente, y que la medida puede generar impactos negativos en el bienestar psicológico y emocional.

Por ello, indica que existen mecanismos alternativos como la evaluación individualizada, el acompañamiento técnico y la consideración del contexto familiar.

En ese sentido, la Corte dispone al Registro Civil que debe proceder al cambio de los datos de adolescentes trans cuando acudan acompañades de sus representantes legales y con el respaldo de informes psicosociales.

Estos informes, agrega la sentencia, deben ser de profesionales acreditados o de órganos técnicos públicos competentes que sean considerados por el Registro Civil.

El fallo tiene efectos para este caso y otros similares. A diferencia de otras sentencias, la Corte no ordena una reforma a la legislación.

La organización Silueta X, que difundió el caso en un comunicado el 11 de marzo, calificó el fallo como histórico y explicó que este crea jurisprudencia de cumplimiento obligatorio.

Sin embargo, otras organizaciones cuestionan los requisitos. Fundación Pakta indica que si bien la sentencia derriba la barrera etaria de la mayoría de edad, la inclusión de informes psicosociales contradice la tendencia global y regional hacia la despatologización.

Pakta menciona, por ejemplo, la Opinión Consultiva 24/17 de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, instrumento que reconoce la identidad autopercebida de las personas y los derechos patrimoniales de parejas del mismo sexo.

El documento, recuerda Pakta en un comunicado, establece que para el reconocimiento de la identidad de género no se debe exigir certificados médicos ni psicológicos. Además, que la Organización Mundial de la Salud reconoció que la identidad trans no es una patología psiquiátrica.

Mientras que la activista Nua Fuentes, de Proyecto Transgénero, considera que los requisitos impuestos por la Corte pueden ser problemáticos. Menciona que frente al desconocimiento y prejuicios, profesionales de salud patologizan la identidad trans.

Además, señala que puede haber casos de que la familia y psicólogos expresen rechazo a la identidad trans y limiten los derechos de adolescentes trans. O también menciona casos de abandono de niñes y adolescentes trans y pregunta cómo reconocer su identidad si no cumplen con el requisito de acudir sin representantes legales.

Los condicionamientos para el cambio del campo de sexo o género en la cédula para adolescentes trans marcan también una diferencia con el procedimiento en personas trans de más de 18 años, pues estas —desde las reformas vigentes en 2024— no deben presentar requisitos. Solo su declaración expresa de ser una persona trans que desea que los datos de su cédula estén conformes a su identidad de género.

La madurez de niñeces y adolescencias ha sido un tema abordado en convenciones o instrumentos internacionales. La Convención sobre los Derechos del Niño de la ONU del 2009 es contundente al reconocerles como seres autónomos y capaces de formar sus propias opiniones a través de la experiencia, el entorno, las expectativas sociales y culturales.

Esta convención es mencionada en una sentencia de la Corte Constitucional en que reconoció la identidad de infancias y adolescencias trans en el sistema educativo.

En las Observaciones Generales del Comité de los Derechos del Niño, documentos de interpretación para los alcances de la mencionada Convención, se explica que la madurez es “la capacidad de comprender y evaluar las consecuencias de un asunto determinado”, lo cual debe considerarse en relación con su capacidad individual, contextos, entornos, experiencias de vida y familiar, desarrollo psicológico y no únicamente con su edad biológica.

Además, que la edad cronológica no determina la evolución de las capacidades de las niñeces y adolescencias porque estas crecen a lo largo del tiempo.

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Cameroon

Gay Cameroonian immigrant will be freed from ICE detention — for now

Ludovic Mbock’s homeland criminalizes homosexuality

Published

3 hours ago

on

March 13, 2026

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Competitive gamer Ludovic Mbock, left, with his sister, Diane Sohna. (Photo courtesy of Diane Sohna)

By ANTONIO PLANAS | An immigration judge on Friday issued a $4,000 bond for a Cameroonian immigrant and regional gaming champion held in federal immigration detention for the past three weeks.

The ruling will allow Ludovic Mbock, of Oxon Hill, to return to Maryland from a Georgia facility this weekend, his family and attorney said.

“Realistically, by tomorrow. Hopefully, by today,” said Mbock’s attorney, Edward Neufville. “We are one step closer to getting Ludovic justice.”

The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

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District of Columbia

Bowser appoints first nonbinary person to Cabinet-level position

Peter Stephan named Office of Disability Rights interim director

Published

24 hours ago

on

March 12, 2026

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The Wilson Building (Bigstock photo by Leonid Andronov)

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bower has named longtime disability rights advocate Peter L. Stephan, who identifies as nonbinary, as interim director of the D.C. Office of Disability Rights.

The local transgender and nonbinary advocacy group Our Trans Capital and the LGBTQ group Capital Stonewall Democrats issued a joint statement calling Stephan’s appointment an historic development as the first-ever appointment of a nonbinary person to a Cabinet-level D.C. government position.

“This milestone appointment recognizes Stephan’s extensive expertise in disability rights advocacy and marks a historic advancement for transgender and nonbinary representation in District government leadership,” the statement says.

The statement notes that Stephan, an attorney, held the position of general counsel at the Office of Disability Rights immediately prior to the mayor’s decision to name him interim director.

The mayor’s office didn’t immediately respond to a question from the Washington Blade asking if Bowser plans to name Stephan as the permanent director of the Office of Disability Rights. John Fanning, a spokesperson for D.C. Council member Anita Bonds (D-At-Large), said the office’s director position requires confirmation by the Council.

Stephan couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

“At a time when trans and nonbinary people ae under attack across the country, D.C. continues to lead by example,” said Stevie McCarty, president of Capital Stonewall Democrats. “This appointment reflects what we have always believed that our community is always strongest when every voice is represented in government,” he said.

“This is a historic step forward,” said Vida Rengel, founder of Our Trans Capital. “Interim Director Stephan’s career and accomplishments are a shining example of the positive impact that trans and nonbinary public servants can have on our communities,” according to Rangel. 

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