Wash. Congressman Says if He Uses Grindr, It's News to His Wife

Newly elected Washington state Congressman Michael Baumgartner held his first town hall meeting in Spokane since being elected, and, from the sound of things, he will likely not go back. According to the Spokesman-Review, he was "confronted by a disruptive, angry crowd that demanded answers for the freshman Republican congressman's voting record and recent actions in President Donald Trump's White House - and regularly interrupted each answer during a town hall Monday evening at Whitworth University."

"It may be the last in-person town hall in the near future, Baumgartner told reporters after the event, suggesting he may turn to telephone town halls to cut down on disruptive behavior and safety concerns."

While he fielded questions on such topics as DOGE, annexing Canada, Social Security, Trump's fitness as President, and Trump's call for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to resign, one question caught him off guard.

The question by a young man in the rear of the auditorium was prefaced with a quote from Martin Luther King's Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."

" Non violent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue," the speaker said. "That being said, how will you respond to the allegations that you've been using the LGBT dating app Grindr in secret?"

The audiences responded with gasps and laughter. After it subsided, Baumgartner responded: "That would be news to my wife."

Baumgartner's views on LGBTQ+ issues are not addressed on his Congressional webpage, though numerous other issues are. But it is generally thought that he is not an ally. In recent statements concerning transgender issues, he wants "fairness for girls in college sports, in high school sports, that indicates he may oppose transgender athletes competing in women's sports. He is said to oppose gender-affirming care for minors and supports HB 1038, a bill that would restrict access to such care for individuals under 18. He also conflated the term "Drag Queen Reading Hours" with "transgender reading hours" in answering a question during the campaign. (They are not the same thing.) His current views on same-sex marriage are not known, but in 2017 he supported domestic partnerships, not marriage.

On Reddit, the reaction was skeptical of Baumgartner's Grindr response.

"Classic non-answer," wrote tableleg7.

"Actually it was the perfect answer. He admitted it but did so in a way that made it seem like he wasn't admitting it," responded xstrike0.

"You're spot on! No hint of a denial... He didn't say, "Im married and I love my wife, I would never step outside the bounds of my marriage..."

"Or, "That is a blatantly false accusation that I won't even dignify with a response..."

"Or even, "I am not familiar with this 'gay app' you're talking about..."," wrote Bigmike2k3.

"Oh my god! He admit it!" replied ham_solo.

And ItsAreBetterThanNips points out: "When people give these kinds of answers I like to combine the response and the allegation to highlight exactly how ridiculous the answer really is. For example, "It would be news to my wife that I'm using the lgbt dating app, Grindr, in secret" Like... yeah dude. That's what "in secret" means."