Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Idaho Bar Ripped After Organizing 'Hetero Awesome Fest' During Pride Month

Hetero Awesome Festival logo
@oldstatesaloon/Instagram

The owner of the Old State Saloon announced they'd be hosting a "Hetero Awesome Fest" in Boise outside the state Capitol building in late June to counter LGTBQ+ Pride Month.

An Idaho bar is drawing criticism after announcing it will be hosting a "Hetero Awesome Festival" (is that really the BEST name you could come up with? Maybe workshop it a bit more...) in response to LGBTQ+ Pride Month.

The grown adults who run Old State Saloon in the Boise suburb of Eagle are convinced that "traditional family values" are under assault because of Pride, so they will be holding their event on June 20 and 21 outside Idaho's state Capitol, to coincide with Pride celebrations.


Old State Saloon announced their celebration with an Instagram video that is frankly hilarious in its delusion.

It's exactly what you'd expect—a bunch of far-right grievance politics over things that are not happening but which Fox News and other propagandists have been insisting are real for decades.

As owner Mark Fitzpatrick put it in an email to NBC News:

"The Hetero Awesome Fest and Heterosexual Awesomeness Month aim to celebrate the traditional family unit and address concerns about cultural trends influenced by liberal progressivism."
"Our event is not about targeting any group but about raising awareness of practices we find troubling, such as the encouragement of 'gender transitions' among children or their exposure to inappropriate content."

That's the publicist-approved version. The video itself was a lot more specific:

"The Battle Lines of Heterosexual Awesomeness ... are the unyielding front where we plant our flag for family, truth, and liberty—no retreat, no surrender."

Retreat from what or surrender to whom, the video does not specify, likely because the threat is completely invented in their own gay-obsessed brains.

Anyway, it goes on to say that Fitzpatrick and his saloon are "slugging it out against the gutless enemies of traditional values" which includes "the LGBTQ+ agenda's anti-kin chaos," which sounds like something Yosemite Sam would say while shooting off his pistols if he were a weird conservatives with an inexplicable fixation on gay sex.

As you might guess, Fitzpatrick's announcement hasn't been very popular, including with the sponsors he's tried to line up, which he told NBC have all ignored his requests for donations.

It didn't go over well on social media, either, unless mockery was the goal. Cuz there was plenty of that!

Just for the record, Fitzgerald told NBC that his event is "a love thing" and there will be "no hate at all" despite claiming on social media that LGBTQ+ people are "criminals" who cut off children's genitals.

Lots of absolutely normal stuff going on at the Old State Saloon so the fest should be a good time!

More from News/lgbtq

dog and cat snuggling together
Krista Mangulsone on Unsplash

Times Pet Owners 'Severely Underestimated' Their Pets' Intelligence

I've lived with cats—because no one owns a feline—most of my life. Some have been very clever creatures while others were real dingbats.

Family members have owned dogs whose talents also ran the gamut.

Keep ReadingShow less
Gavin Newsom; Sean Duffy
Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images; Eric Lee/Getty Images

Gavin Newsom Hits Sean Duffy With Gross Reminder After Duffy Tells People To Keep Shoes On During Flights

After Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy spoke out about air travel etiquette and not wearing pajamas or taking your shoes off on an airplane, California Governor Gavin Newsom called him out by reminding him of the time then-presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—now the Health and Human Services Secretary—walked around on a plane barefoot.

Duffy recently appeared at Newark International Airport in New Jersey, to discuss his efforts to “restore courtesy and class to air travel” by arguing that people taking more pride in their appearance on flights.

Keep ReadingShow less
Scott Bessent
Meet the Press/NBC News

Scott Bessent Blasted Over His Bonkers Suggestion For How To Bring Your Own Inflation Rate Down

Continuing to follow the example of MAGA Republican President Donald Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appeared on Meet the Press Sunday to blame Democratic President Joe Biden for the financial downturn caused by Trump's tariff fiasco, then lied repeatedly about the state of the economy.

Meet the Press host Kristen Welker played a clip of MAGA Republican Vice President JD Vance telling a conservative audience at a Breitbart News event that Americans owe the Trump administration "a little bit of patience"—apparently while they figure out what tariffs are and how they work since they're rolling back more of them to lower consumer prices despite claiming Trump's tariffs don't affect consumer prices.

Keep ReadingShow less
Lindsay Lohan attends the men's final during day fifteen of the 2025 US Open Tennis Championships at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Elsa/Getty Images

Lindsay Lohan Is Now Sporting A New Accent—And Fans Aren't Sure What To Make Of It

In a twist freakier than a sequel to Freaky Friday, Lindsay Lohan has debuted yet another new accent—this time at the Fashion Trust Arabia Awards in Doha, Qatar.

Draped in a maroon, jewel-trimmed gown by The New Arrivals Ilkyaz Ozel and accompanied by her husband, Bader Shammas, and their 2-year-old son, Luai, the actress looked serene, elegant, and completely unbothered by the collective whiplash she was about to inflict on the internet.

Keep ReadingShow less
Jameela Jamil
Gilbert Flores/Variety/Getty Images

Jameela Jamil Speaks Out Against The Rise Of The 'Aesthetic Of Emaciation' Among Women In Hollywood

Content Warning: eating disorders, thinness as an aesthetic, emaciation in Hollywood

There's no denying that we've been gifted with some incredible music, television shows, and films this year.

Keep ReadingShow less