BOISE, Idaho — A minor confrontation broke out at the controversial “Hetero Awesome Fest” on Saturday when a protester took the stage and began singing a pro-LGBTQ+ song before being removed.
According to several livestreams of the event, including those from Old Street Saloon, the incident occurred during the two-day festival held on June 20-21 in Cecil D. Andrus Park, directly across from the Idaho State Capitol. Mark Fitzpatrick, owner of the Old State Saloon and organizer of the event, rushed the stage and took the microphone from the man after about a minute of singing.
This reminds me of a straight pride event titled “Hetero Pride” that was organized in Finland way back in 2013. One of the organizers was a deputy city councillor and Finns Party member. He claimed how society and the media over-emphasized homosexuality, calling it “homozation”. He also claimed how it was hard to defend the traditional family model without being labelled homophobic and racist.
The event was held near the Parliament House in Helsinki. There were whole a lot more counter-protesters and some came to the event mainly because it was more like “popcorn pride”. One of the speakers at the event literally said in his speech how “we don’t have anything against homosexuals, but…” and another said something about how “the Bible states that marriage is only between a man and a woman”. One speaker was later asked about “what privileges do gays have these days”, and he just replied “I have to be honest, I can’t say anything about that”.
“The tiger can’t change its stripes.” The organizer mentioned later posed in a picture with five other men who made a Nazi salute – one of them was Seppo Lehto, an infamous Neo-Nazi. He also made a Nazi salute himself in another picture, this time wearing a Hitler mask. When called out, he said “I’m not in that picture. I wasn’t there. I don’t know where these kinds of clips came from.” He later admitted being in the picture, claiming how he hadn’t made a Nazi salute: “It’s just a normal salute with the left hand. The official Nazi salute is with the right hand at a 45 degree angle.”
The explanation wasn’t enough for the Finns Party, and as a consequence he was fired from the party’s regional council because of homophobia. Later he also resigned from the party.