Precisely because of the political circumstances, some gay Republicans in Washington were not sympathetic to Grenell’s plight and faulted him for acting unprofessionally.

“It should have been obvious to him that as an out, professional gay, which is different than just being gay, who has engaged on the issue of marriage and a number of other issues publicly as an activist, when he joined the presidential campaign he had to know that the Bryan Fischers of the world were going to hit him,” said one openly gay Republican political operative. “He had to know.”

“If you want to be a gay rights activist, there’s GOProud and [Human Rights Campaign] and a number of things that you can do. But if you want to try to elect Mitt Romney president, then get on board and do your job, which is to talk about foreign policy,” the GOP operative said. “He broke every rule of every book of the political staffers on a presidential campaign: It isn’t about you.”

Another openly gay Republican who did not want to talk on the record or even on background expressed similar sentiments about Grenell.