Watch: Marjorie Taylor-Greene Criticizes GOP Chair for LGBTQ Outreach
Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), recently spearheaded an LGBT "Pride Coalition," according to Fox News, which led to widespread criticism from such conservatives as U.S. representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and the National Research Council's Tony Perkins, including calls for her resignation. Days later, she apologized, "acknowledging she could have done a better job. Be communicating a new initiative to recruit gay voters that upset some in the party's Christian evangelical base," writes the Just The News website.
McDaniel announced the first-ever "RNC Pride Coalition" in conjunction with the "Spirit of Lincoln Gala," which took place on November 6 at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida and attracted former President Donald Trump and former First Lady Melania Trump. They were the event's guest of honor and other prominent Republicans, including former acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell, partnering with the Log Cabin Republicans to invest and mobilize LGBTQ communities ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, also attended.
McDaniel's talking-points delivered on the call sought to assuage evangelicals by saying the new gay voter project had only one staffer hired while her outreach project for faith voters had three. "We have plans in place to build the largest faith outreach coalition the RNC has ever had," she said.
But that was far from pleasing religious conservatives and far-right politicians who lashed out at McDaniel for her inclusive move.
"Republican Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has slammed Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), for recently spearheading an LGBT 'Pride Coalition,' reports Newsweek.
"But you see the Republican Party should be the party that fights for the American people, for the American worker, for families and traditional family values instead of seeing what we saw with the RNC and Ronna McDaniel," Greene said in the November 19 broadcast of the right-wing video show Slightly Offens*ve."
"She's declaring an LGBT coalition," Greene continued. "Well, you know, the Republican Party doesn't play identity politics. So why are we playing identity politics. Why is Ronna McDaniel doing things like that?"
Also Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, called for McDaniel's resignation: "I think she needs to step down. She has outlived her purpose at the RNC."
But as Right Wing Watch observes McDaniels "hosted a brief, take-no-questions conference call Monday afternoon in which she defended the partnership with Log Cabin Republicans, assured angry conservative activists that there was no intention to change the party's core values or its anti-equality platform, and apologized for a lack of communication about the plan.
"After the call, McDaniel told participants by email that she did not take questions because she believed members of the media were on the call. She included a list of talking points noting that the Trump 2020 campaign had its own "Trump Pride" coalition.
"We are actively committed to fighting the radical left on culture issues and standing up for religious liberty, family values, and Republicans of faith," she wrote, adding, "We would never, ever organize or communicate with organizations that undermine our values. You have my word on that."
But as Right Wing Watch concludes, "Perkins' performative outrage about the Pride coalition has been more selective than courageous. He is waging a public war against McDaniel but is silent about Trump's participation in the event. Taking shots at McDaniel and LGBTQ people appears to be a calculated move: Why risk angering Perkins' Trump-adoring supporters?"