Romney foreign policy spokesman resigns under fire

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney pauses during a rally at Consol Energy's Research and Development facility outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania April 23, 2012.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Mitt Romney's foreign policy spokesman, Richard Grenell, has resigned after only a brief stint on Romney's presidential campaign.

The Washington Post reported that the openly gay Grenell had been hounded from the campaign by anti-gay conservatives.

Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades said in a statement that Grenell, hired last month, decided to leave for personal reasons that he did not specify.

"We are disappointed that Ric decided to resign from the campaign for his own personal reasons. We wanted him to stay because he had superior qualifications for the position he was hired to fill," Rhoades said.

The Post's "Right Turn" column quoted a statement from Grenell that said his ability to "speak clearly and forcefully on the issues has been greatly diminished by the hyper-partisan discussion of personal issues that sometimes comes from a presidential campaign."

Before joining Romney's campaign, Grenell was a prolific - and inflammatory - voice on Twitter, posting biting commentary on subjects ranging from Newt Gingrich's weight to Michelle Obama exercising in the White House.

By the time he joined the campaign, many of his most provocative musings on Twitter have been deleted. He had been spokesman of the U.S. mission to the United Nations during George W. Bush's presidency.

(Reporting By Steve Holland)