His 2012 campaign initially hired an openly gay spokesperson, Richard Grenell, the first openly gay spokesperson for a Republican presidential campaign. However, Grenell left the campaign after less than two weeks, after heavy criticism from prominent social and cultural conservatives. The quick departure was viewed as a win for anti-gay advocates and Politico later reported that according to their sources, the campaign had chosen to not publicly defend Grenell from the homophobic criticism because of concern about losing religious support. In 2021, Romney voted to confirm Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay cabinet level official to be confirmed by the Senate, as Secretary of Transportation.