Mark Fitzpatrick is no stranger to controversy, after successfully fighting the leftist agenda machine when he hosted Heterosexual Awesomeness Month at his Idaho bar, Old State Saloon, this past June. However, his problems started months before he hosted the month-long event at his bar. Mark’s church was not happy about what he was doing at his bar, and they “canceled” him over it. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Fitzpatrick and he shared his story with me. 

Being Straight Is Great: Celebrating Heterosexual Awesomeness Month

Fitzpatrick is a recent conservative Californian transplant to Eagle, Idaho. He is a strong and passionate conservative and Christian and is very active in his church, which he helped establish when he and his wife moved their family to Eagle approximately six years ago from Southern California. Mark quickly saw success in private real estate and other business ventures. One of those ventures was his acquisition of an established bar in downtown Eagle, which is a small suburb located approximately 23 miles northwest of Boise. The bar, then called "The Gathering Place," was built in 1908, and after talking with the owner, Mark purchased the bar and opened it in February of 2023, renaming it "Old State Saloon." 

Originally intended to support his wedding venue business with a liquor license, Fitzpatrick quickly saw more potential in the bar and adapted it to serve as a hub where people could come and talk about politics, hot topic issues, current events, and more. He began hosting a weekly event dubbed “Braveritas,” which is a combination of the words brave and veritas (veritas being Latin for truth), now called "Old State Salooncast," where guests were invited to present different topics, some of which were controversial, but nothing was off limits. Religion, specifically Christianity, was also discussed, and Mark used these discussions to spread the Christian message. 

These events were held with the understanding that Mark, along with Old State Saloon as a business, was not advocating or supporting some of the topics discussed. The goal of these events was just to allow a space where topics typically talked about in private, for various reasons, could be talked about openly and discussed. With those discussions came questions and debate, along with plenty of beverage sales.

Fitzpatrick also hosted quarterly gun giveaways during an event dubbed "RIP California Trivia," featuring himself, along with a puppet named Mini Gavin Newsom, where groups of people in teams of four competed in a question game in which California laws and politicians were made fun of, and the winners of the raffle would win a firearm that was donated by a local gun shop. One would think that these events would be enjoyed by the overwhelming conservative population of Eagle, and you would be right. However, Fitzpatrick’s church was not having it, and they punished him dearly for it.

In April, just a few months before the June Heterosexual Awesomeness festivities, three of Fitzpatrick’s church’s pastors had emailed Mark, stating that they “were concerned about these events.” They went on to say that if he continued to host these events, they would have to “part ways” with him. Fitzpatrick noted that the pastors had also CC’d his wife in the email saying in part that she needed to be aware of these implications and the effects it could have on her and the family. Fitzpatrick viewed the email, not only as questionable, but as a threat because the pastors did not elaborate as to the exact violation of the Bible. All they could tell him was that his events were divisive and dangerous but could not definitively point to specific teachings of Christianity that Mark violated; rather it was a personal preference of the pastors.

The email came out of the blue according to Fitzpatrick, who said that none of the pastors had even called or spoken to him in person before sending the email. After sending the email, the pastors then contacted Mark and asked to meet with him in person on June 20^th, to discuss what Mark thought was going to be a resolution and closure of all concerns. However, they told him that because they viewed these events at the bar as divisive and dangerous, he had to stop doing them. If he refused, Fitzpatrick would be removed from the church. Mark asked them to explain what was sinful or against the teachings of Christianity; instead they repeated their ultimatum and went as far as to tell Mark that the church had nothing in common with him anymore.

Mark laments the fact that as a strong and passionate Christian, the pastors had decided that even holding strong to the Christian faith and loyalty to Jesus Christ, was not good enough for them. Telling the pastors that he agreed with most of everything they said about the faith, but the pastors felt that was not good enough. After the meeting, Mark and his family went to church as they normally would have but were told to leave and that he was no longer welcome at the church or on the property. The following week, the pastors made a public announcement at both services that Mark was an “unrepentant sinner” and that they should not associate with him.  

Mark believes that his church wrongly cast him aside and feels that they have failed him and his family by failing to address how he has sinned. However, he has not let that stop him from doing what he believes is right. Fitzpatrick is strongly passionate about his Christian faith and uses his platform in the Old State Saloon, to espouse his beliefs. He believes that backing down and remaining silent on issues he believes Christianity and Jesus Christ preaches, would be a sinful act.

Liberals, specifically the LGBT community describe Fitzpatrick as evil. The lengths they have gone to, to “cancel” him, shut down his business and more, are some of the very same tactics that his church has used against him. Both of them have failed, however, as the bar has flourished with the media coverage and attention it has garnered.

Old State Saloon continues with the "Old State Salooncast," hosting the monthly "RIP California Trivia" nights, and more. Fitzpatrick has stood his ground in front of what others would call impossible odds. Instead, Fitzpatrick has figuratively said, challenge accepted. By all accounts, he has proven his words accurate; business is booming despite liberal attacks on social media leaving fake reviews and dubbing his and his events as terrorist activities. He refuses to back down and will stand up for what he believes in, even if he faces death.  

Editor's Note: This article was updated post-publication for clarity.