Curtis Bashaw, who grew up in Camden County, New Jersey, explored gay bars for the first time in Philadelphia — at Key West and Kurt’s, two nightclubs that were popular in the ’80s but have since closed.
Bashaw said he was insecure and tentative during those early days of his coming out journey, having come from a family he described as conservative and religious. His grandfather was a Presbyterian minister. He’d attended a small religious school in Collingswood and spent his summers at the shore.
“I saw in the world in which I came from, a lot of people had misconceptions about gay people. Obviously that made me nervous,” he said about coming to terms with his identity as a gay person during the HIV/AIDS crisis and about sharing that aspect of who he is with his loved ones.
Although he said some were intolerant, he underlined that many — even those who felt his “lifestyle might be out of sync with what they believe the best way to live one’s life is through their religious faith” — were kind, loving and supportive.
“I found that there was intolerance and prejudging or stereotyping that cuts both ways,” Bashaw noted about both the LGBTQ+ people and the conservative Christians he was around during those years — realizing that people from either group were sometimes wrong about each other.
“I think that’s one insight as a young person that has made me moderate in my views,” he explained.
Bashaw is now the first openly gay Republican from New Jersey to pursue federal office. He’s running against Democrat Andy Kim in the United States Senate race — and he believes the unique and unlikely intersections of his identity could help him become a bridge between two parties that can’t often work together lately.
“I really believe the best social program is a job,” he said about his views as a fiscal conservative — which is what draws him to the Republican party. “I love being a job creator.”
“And really, a huge part of my identity is as a business person — a small business person, somebody that was integrating their business with the community,” he added about his work as a hotelier and developer. “And obviously in hospitality, you’re welcoming everybody. Anybody’s welcome.”
Bashaw’s home and businesses are in the part of the state that many refer to as Trump country — the Southern shore towns are where Donald Trump’s allies show their support on beach flags, visible from boardwalks littered with similar merch.
Bashaw called Cape May — where he currently resides — an “integrated” town in the sense that it lacks LGBTQ-specific bars but that LGBTQ+ people have felt welcome and included. It’s also in one of the only New Jersey counties Trump won in 2020 — making that statement feel like a contradiction. But to Bashaw, it’s not that straightforward.
“As citizens in a country that’s self-governing, we all have to make a choice — and sometimes those choices aren’t as clear or as obvious as you’d like them to be,” he said. “But we still have to pick who we support or who we think is less bad, depending on the cycle.”
“There’s no perfect politician,” he said. “I’m not one. That’s for sure.”
Bashaw’s pick for the presidential race is certainly imperfect. He, like many of his neighbors, is voting for Trump — which he did the previous two times Trump ran for president.
That’s still true for him even now that Vice President Kamala Harris has entered the race. He said this is because of Trump’s economic and border policies. He also doesn’t trust Democratic leaders and believes it’s possible that they’ve been “covering up the fitness or the mental acuity or the energy level of President [Joe] Biden.”
“I have to make a choice based upon what’s on the table,” Bashaw said. “And so my choice in this election is to support President Trump.”
But he doesn’t want potential voters to focus on that. Bashaw, who has self-financed much of his own campaign, said he entered the race because he’s part of a movement for freedom.
“America is one of the greatest exceptions to tyranny in the history of humanity,” he said. “Our freedom of speech, assembly, worship, enterprise, conscience — all these freedoms come with a price, and the price is that we have to share them with our neighbors with whom we disagree.”
Bashaw said he believes in upholding “domestic tranquility,” a concept that’s mentioned in the Constitution.
“To me, that’s the sanctity of our homes. I need to be able to marry and live with and be with the people that I love,” he said. “We need to give each other space to live.”
“I think my loyalty to the LGBTQ+ community extends from that belief that we are all entitled to the dignity of our personal freedoms,” he said, noting that this same logic has led him to become pro-choice and anti-vax as well. “And I think it would be an asset to our community to have someone like me caucusing with Republicans and helping persuade them.”
But his perspectives on personal freedoms aren’t exactly black-and-white — and he does hold some views that could have negative consequences for LGBTQ+ youth.
In a conversation during a conservative talk radio program, he said, “I think with our schools keeping secrets from parents — that’s overreaching the government into our homes, destroying our own domestic tranquility and the rights of families to live as they see fit.”
He was referring to the state’s student-centered approach to trans inclusion and affirmation in schools — which does not require teachers and other school officials to reveal a student’s trans status to that student’s guardians. They are urged to consider negative outcomes and risks to the student when deciding whether or not to disclose. Parental consent is not required to use a student’s chosen name or pronouns, and the policy suggests that schools continue to refer to students by their chosen names and pronouns even if their families disagree.
He’s also spouted the same misinformation other GOP leaders promote regarding approaches to trans healthcare for youth, claiming there’s a threat of children “possibly having a life-altering procedure done without parental consent” — which isn’t happening. Youth must reach their state’s legal age of consent and meet other qualifications that vary state by state (including emancipation, for instance) to pursue trans-affirming health care without parental consent.
“Good luck trying to label me,” Bashaw said during a speech after winning the Republican primary. “I am Curtis Bashaw. A lifelong Republican. I am gay. I have been with my husband for 20 years. I am a small-business person. I am for freedom and domestic tranquility in our homes. I am pro-choice. I am pro-parent. I support law enforcement. I support Israel. I support Ukraine but know that America needs to be strong at home to be able to help others, and that means securing our border.”