Election News

Gay Republicans whine about “homophobia” after being charged a cover at LGBTQ+ bar

The bar, though, says that he tried to visit during a Harris-Walz campaign fundraiser.
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Three Republican gay men are accusing an LGBTQ+ establishment of discrimination after, they say, they were charged a cover while non-Republican LGBTQ+ people were allowed to enter without paying a cover.

TikTok user @5280basedhomo, whose real name is Rich Guggenheim, said that he and two other conservatives – Chris, aka “TheMidwestHomo” and gay GOP congressional candidate Valdemar Archuleta — who accused LGBTQ+ people of being “groomers” and being responsible for the Club Q shooting — tried to enter Buddies, an LGBTQ+ bar, in Denver.

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Guggenheim was wearing a red cap that said “Make Gay Bars Gay Again,” and Archuleta was wearing what he described as a “bedazzled MAGA hat.” Guggenheim’s bio on the social media platform X shows a rainbow flag and a trans flag with a scissors emoji between them, showing his opposition to transgender rights, which may explain the message behind the hat.

“We were just told by the bouncer at Buddies that they’re charging a $40 cover for the three of us to get into this bar when they are not charging anybody else that cover,” he claimed. “This is discrimination and homophobia against gay people who have conservative ideology.”

“Homophobia” refers to discrimination or bias against gay and bi people as a class; discriminating against conservatives is discrimination based on political ideology. Political ideology is not a protected class under Colorado civil rights law.

“This is where we’re at in the club of inclusivity and tolerance and love and respect,” he complained sarcastically while wearing a rainbow Disney shirt. “If you don’t go along with their narrative, if you don’t agree with their political views, they are gonna discriminate against you.”

He then called on his followers to blast Buddies, calling them “homophobic” and saying that they’re “literally disenfranchising” members of their own community.

Buddies’ management, though, disputes Guggenheim’s claims. In an email to LGBTQ Nation, Manager Phil Newland said that the bar was hosting a fundraiser for the Harris-Walz campaign on Saturday afternoon from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. with a $40 cover charge.

“We had several people choose to not participate in the 60-minute fundraiser, and many of them returned at 5:30 when the fundraiser was over,” Newland said.

Newland said that the fundraiser raised $280 for the campaign as seven people participated and that next week’s fundraiser is for a local theater troupe.

“We understand that not everyone will want to support all fundraisers,” Newland added.

In the responses to his post on X, Guggenheim showed that his support for Donald Trump may not be based on complete information about Trump as a candidate. Someone pointed out that Trump doesn’t support LGBTQ+ people’s “civil rights protections,” which is factually correct. Trump said that he would veto the Equality Act, a bill that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to current federal civil rights legislation, and the Trump administration fought against Title VII’s and Title IX’s civil rights protections applying to LGBTQ+ people.

“Trump supports civil rights for gay people,” Guggenheim replied incorrectly. “You’re just spreading misinformation.”

In another comment, Guggenheim said that the “Supreme Court actually decided to make it so that you know we have civil rights,” perhaps referring to the 2020 Bostock v. Clayton Co. decision, which only applies to job discrimination and does not apply to either public accommodations discrimination or discrimination on the basis of political ideology. The Supreme Court, in fact, ruled that some businesses have a right to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis.

In a follow-up video, Guggenheim complained about LGBTQ+ people “using villainizing and dehumanizing words” to describe him and his friends. He then compared LGBTQ+ people to “Hitler and the Nazis” who used similar tactics, he claimed, “to get people to accept exterminating 11 million Jews during the Holocaust.”

“Is that what conformist establishment gays want now, to exterminate anyone who does not conform to their ideology and assimilate into their cult?” he asked, implying that mean comments on social media are comparable to the Holocaust.

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