Richard Grenell, an openly gay foreign policy spokesman for Mitt Romney, resigned today because of what he called a "hyper-partisan discussion of personal issues."

Grenell's employment by the Romney presidential campaign had been attacked by conservatives such as Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association. Fischer wrote that Grenell's hiring was a "deliberate poke in the eye to the pro-family community."

Grenell had also come under fire for tweets about prominent women such as MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, Callista Gingrich and Michelle Obama.

In a statement issued to The Washington Post's Right Turn blog, Grenell thanked Romney for his support and "his clear message to me that being openly gay was a non-issue for him and his team." He made clear that leaving the Romney campaign was his own choice.

Romney campaign manager Matt Rhodes said in a statement that the presumptive GOP nominee's team was "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."

Here's Grenell's full statement:

I have decided to resign from the Romney campaign as the Foreign Policy and National Security Spokesman. While I welcomed the challenge to confront President Obama's foreign policy failures and weak leadership on the world stage, my 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. I want to thank Governor Romney for his belief in me and my abilities and his clear message to me that being openly gay was a non-issue for him and his team.

Grenell was a spokesman for President George W. Bush at the United Nations and also worked for Republicans such as former New York governor George Pataki.