March 31 2026, 08:15 
Mark David Fitzpatrick, the vocally heterosexual bar owner perhaps best known for his annual anti-LGBTQ+ “Heterosexual Awesomeness” festival, is running for governor of Idaho.
His campaign Instagram page says that he is a “devoted husband of 23 years” and a “cultural advocate.” It brags about how he was called a “bigot” by a local newspaper and attacks the current Idaho governor, Brad Little, as a “RINO” who supported measures to curb the spread of COVID. In another post, he claims that churches refuse to recognize that they need to get involved in politics, which means that “Satan” has been allowed to “do whatever” he wants.
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Anti-LGBTQ+ bar owner plans “Heterosexual Awesomeness” festival during Pride Month
Fitzpatrick bought the Old State Saloon in Eagle, a suburb of Boise, in 2023, and he organized the festival for the last two years.
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In 2024, he declared June to be Heterosexual Awesomeness Month, a rebuke of LGBTQ+ Pride Month, and offered free beer to straight men only on every Monday of that month. The month included events like Worship Nights, Open Carry Coffee in the mornings, a “Conspiracy Theory Trivia” night with an AR-15 as a prize, and a “Nefarious Vaccine Agenda” event.
“Come join us all month to celebrate heterosexuals,” he posted to social media at the time, “for without them, none of us would be here! Each Monday will be Hetero Male Monday and any heterosexual male dressed like a heterosexual male will receive a free draft beer.”
In 2025, he took the event on the road and held a Heterosexual Awesomeness festival across the street from the Idaho State Capitol in Boise proper. “This ain’t your limp-wristed woke fest; it’s a full-on celebration of family values with guts,” Fitzpatrick declared.
“Dozens” of people ended up attending the celebration of heterosexuality, which included a musician going rogue and singing an ode to trans masculinity before the livestream of the event cut out. Fitzpatrick called the singer “yet another example of lies and deceptions from the Pride community. That’s what they are: liars and deceivers. They do it to victimize children. It’s pathetic and evil.”
The GOP primary in the Idaho gubernatorial race is crowded, with at least nine candidates having filed, including incumbent Gov. Brad Little (R). The primary will be held on May 19.
Fitzpatrick claims on his campaign Instagram that Gov. Little “voted AGAINST Traditional Marriage in ’04.” Little was a state senator at the time, but Fitzpatrick doesn’t specify what he is referring to. In 2003, the state legislature’s lower chamber considered a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex couples from marrying, but it didn’t come up for a vote in the Idaho State Senate that year. The state senate voted on a similar measure in 2005, which failed to pass because it also banned civil unions.
In the past several years, Little has signed several pieces of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, including the first trans sports ban in the nation in 2021, which is currently being considered by the Supreme Court.
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