Overview
- Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office on X replied to conservative Benny Johnson with a Grindr joke, using the LGBTQ dating app as a punchline.
- Leaders tied to Equality California, USA Today columnist Rex Huppke, and LGBTQ outlet Them called the jabs homophobic and said they use being gay as an insult.
- Former Rep. Barney Frank and Justice Department civil-rights official Harmeet K. Dhillon also condemned the posts as using sexuality as a slur.
- Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon defended the messages as ridicule aimed at exposing right-wing hypocrisy rather than attacks on LGBTQ people.
- The dispute builds on earlier Grindr quips from the same account and on recent talk of being “more culturally normal” that drew concern from the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, complicating Newsom’s long pro-LGBTQ record dating to 2004.