An event billed as a celebration of “traditional family values” and a counter to Pride Month festivities drew more scrutiny than support in downtown Boise last weekend.
Dubbed the “Hetero Awesomeness Festival,” the gathering was hosted by Mark Fitzpatrick of Eagle and featured speakers including far-right podcaster David Reilly. Despite boasting an $85,000 budget, attendance appeared to peak at just 30 to 40 people at a time.
“We had 700 to 1,000 people over the weekend,” Fitzpatrick said.
He attributed what many viewed as low turnout to “chilly and rainy weather on Friday.”
Friday’s high reached the mid-60s with barely a trace of precipitation recorded — just one-one thousandth of an inch. Saturday was 67 and breezy.
Despite criticism and visible gaps in the crowd, Fitzpatrick insisted the event was a success.
“Overall impression of the weekend was big success,” he said. “We did what we said we were going to do, which is provide a free event for people to come and celebrate traditional family values, gather together with kids. We had the kids’ zone set up. We had a stage set up with great music. We had the food and beverage there, and we had booths there with people, sponsors and everything else.”
What may have attracted more attention than the event itself, though, were comments made by Reilly on his podcast
The Backlash
, which was set up at the festival. During a segment recorded from the park, Reilly remarked that Boise was a clean city and whispered, “There’s not a lot of Black people.”
Fitzpatrick distanced himself from the remark but stopped short of condemning it.
“I would not have said it. It’s not what I would do. He’s his own person,” Fitzpatrick said. “You have to ask him if he has a justification for what he said, or if he thinks it’s factual, or if he actually prejudges Black people by looking at them already. I don’t know.”
When asked directly if he denounced the comment, Fitzpatrick reiterated, “I would never say what he said… I don’t believe people should be derogatory with the intent to hurt somebody’s feelings… but people have free speech.”
Instead, he attributed Boise’s cleanliness not to race but to ideology.
“I think Boise is clean because we have less wokeism than other big cities,” he said. “It’s not about Black people. It’s about liberalism. The liberalism comes in and the city goes downhill. It has nothing to do with the color of people’s skin.”
Reilly, who attended the
2017 Unite the Right rally
in Charlottesville and has a documented history of antisemitic posts on social media, stood by his podcast comment.
“It was a joke,” Reilly said. “Diversity is a weakness, not a strength. The LGBTQIA-plus movement is satanic. Straight white people are welcome and wanted in Idaho.”
When asked about Reilly’s controversial background and views, Fitzpatrick again declined to denounce him.
“You know who he is, and the people who came in did far worse things in front of the entire crowd,” he said. “He’s not me. You can—you know me. People know me, who get to know me. I’m not racist.”
Fitzpatrick then launched into a defense of his Christian faith and a broader critique of the LGBTQ+ community.
“In the Bible, it says that as long as you put your faith, your trust, your hope in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you will be at the throne of God… it doesn’t say only if you’re white,” he said.
He accused Pride supporters of trying to sabotage his event, stating that “wicked pride people” harassed sponsors, impersonated military personnel, and promoted “transsexualism” to children. He provided no verifiable evidence for these claims.
“One of my sponsors just sent me a clip of somebody saying that you guys urinate in your mouths,” Fitzpatrick said, citing an unverified claim. “That’s absolutely disgusting… but that’s just one of hundreds of examples of how wicked these people are and what they do.”
Despite the backlash, Fitzpatrick says he’s committed to holding another event next year.
“100% success,” he declared. “If I have people now from around the country that are extremely upset at me and trying to ruin my life — and these are morally depraved people — that means I did a good job.”
