The self-loathing world of Arthur Schaper

There's a long and storied history of people being THIS homophobic. There's also a long and storied history of people being THIS homophobic while suppressing what tingles their itty bitty loins.

There was a rule Monday evening inside the Elk’s Lodge in Huntington Beach. A rule that was stated clearly and repeatedly.

“No recording.”

Indeed, there was to be no documentation of the Surf City Tea meeting—a gathering of approximately 20 silver-haired local conservatives featuring some words from Butch (Significantly Too Old To Still Be Vaping) Twining, the local City Council member and a man who looks like an AI-generated merging of Santa Claus and your uncle who desperately needs a nap …

“No recording.”

The words were uttered multiple times. But what are words? And, really, in 2025, what are rules? Do they matter? Do they exist? If we have a president who bombs other nations sans Congressional input, if we have a masked enforcement brigade rolling through SoCal and yanking people into unmarked vans … what are rules?

So, eh, we recorded.

And what unfolded … well, hmm. What unfolded was a grotesque brigade of ignorance and bigotry and stupidity. But mostly, what unfolded were the mad ramblings of a featured guest named Arthur Schaper, who—and these are mere guesses—I suspect:

A. Is a virgin.

B. Lives a uniquely sad and lonely life.

C. Owns this calendar.

D. Gazes at it regularly and longingly.

Why do I think such? Because history, to quote the great Percival Everett, is a motherfucker. And if there’s one thing history tells us about people like Arthur Schaper, it’s that they’re damaged, self-loathing and embarrassed of the little demonic thoughts that creep into their heads. As a result, they do the ol’ 180 twitcharoo—which is to say there’s no better way to suppress your turmoils than to violently show the world they do not exist.

If you think I’m full of poop, take a moment and Google Bridget Ziegler. And Matt Schlapp. And Jon Reid. And Wes Goodman. And Larry Craig. And George Rekers. And Ted Haggard. And Jon Hinson. It’s an endless conga line of guilt-ridden people sent here to tell the intellectually vulnerable that [gays, Blacks, Latinos, Jews] are the enemy, and we need to snuff them out like ants atop a picnic table.

Officially, Schaper serves as a local field director for MassResistance, a “pro-family” organization that puts the hit in Hitler and the dil in dildo. Deemed a “longtime anti-LGBTQ hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, MassResistance sends its peeps around the country, fighting desperately to reverse LGBTQ+ protections and return this nation to a splendid period when young white men and young white women met at the school sock hop, held hands, went out for a vanilla malt, dated for three months, wed at the local VFW hall, had sex for the first time that night, pumped out five kids, bought a picket-fenced house in Pleasantville and lived happily ever after.¹

And before we get into the words spewed by this walking piece of caterpillar carcass, a couple of points need to be emphasized:

First, Schaper was invited by a conservative group that knew exactly what it was getting. Second, Twining (who talks an awfully good game about people needing to work together, but whose Instagram feed unspools a very different narrative) stayed for the entirety of the speech—clapping and nodding in agreement throughout. Third, this pamphlet was distributed, courtesy of Schaper …

Along with these books, placed on display …

… and fourth, I have to believe a good number of the folks in attendance have gay children. Or gay grandchildren. Or gay nieces and nephews. Or gay co-workers. Or gay employees. Or empathized with the gay kid in “Sweet Home Alabama.” Or at least used to enjoy an occasional “Ellen” episode. In 2025, it’s almost impossible to live in this country and not know/embrace/like/love someone who identifies as LGBTQ+. Unless you’re a monster—like Arthur Schaper.

But I digress. Let’s get to the speech …

First, I offer the full 52-minute Schaper spiel, a jarringly irksome, smug and never-ending attack on the 29 million American adults who, via the most recent Gallup poll on the subject, consider themselves to be LGBTQ+. According to this guy, gays are evil. And sick. And broken. And damaged. And unworthy of love, support, kindness, empathy. Their “movement” needs to be destroyed by any means necessary. It is, to him, predatory and grotesque.²

The talk is a whole lotta something …

For your convenience, I’ll offer some bullet points:

• The Obama Administration wanted to to push “LGBT everything” on children in order to convert them into The Gay.

• Drag Queen Story Hours make Schaper uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable. Like, really, really, really uncomfortable. So uncomfortable that he talks about them all the time. Obsesses over them. Gets that tingly feeling. Nonstop.

• Schaper bragged about having the Pride Flag removed from Chula Vista. Which is a bit weird, considering the Pride Flag flies over Chula Vista.

• Schaper bragged about “shutting down” the Pride Picnic in Downey. If “shutting down” means it continues to be held, well … um. Yeah, bruh. Nice try.

• Schaper bragged about the library in Campbell County, Wyoming rejecting national standards that result in offering LGBTQ+-themed books. And he’s right—the library system fired multiple people, including public library director Terri Lesley. Who has since filed a wrongful termination lawsuit that she seems likely to win and which will cost a low-budget operation, at bare minimum, hundreds of thousands of dollars. Great work, Arthur!

• Here’s a dandy quote: “The [American Library Association] is the big culprit. You have an out lesbian Marxist who was in charge of the ALA. She's made it clear she wants to queer the libraries and you gotta ask yourself that question. There is all this pornography that’s suffused in all these books. Why is the ALA so desperate to push it? And they call it queering.”

There are plenty of things to unpack here, including: A. Apparently unlike Arthur Schaper, Cindy Hohl (head of the ALA) is married. And it’s to a man. His name is Nathan. He’s a manager at Johnson County (Kans.) Library. This information took me approximately 25 seconds to uncover.

Also, there is literally nothing to show Hohl is a Marxist, save the fact she reads books and doesn’t berate gay people. And I’m pretty sure “queering” involves sexually ambiguous bald dudes harassing litigious Wyoming-based librarians. But maybe that’s me.

• I love—like, love x 100,000—that Schaper took time to tell the story of “Bill Blackcock.” Who, I am quite certain, was the star of my favorite mid-1980s porno series, “Bill Blackcock: Cum Closer!”

For the record, the man’s name is Bill Whatcott. And while Schaper presents this as the saga of a decent man just attending a parade and spreading the love, here’s some actual information about the dude …

• Schaper says that George Soros (Oh, no! Not George Soros!) is bringing his LGBTQ+ agenda to the nation of Kyrgyzstan. “This is a majority Muslim country,” said Arthur. “Yet even here, with their very strong traditional culture, there was George Soros' efforts to push LGBT on the kids, to push all kinds of exposure onto the kids, the adults.” And what, exactly, did Soros do in Kyrgyzstan? Back in 2007, he used his Public Health Operation to make certain LGBTQ+ people received adequate health care in a nation that, especially at the time, treated gay and lesbians with unyielding animosity.

I can go on. And on. And on. And on.

But, in a way, the point isn’t Arthur Schaper and his XXL erotica hate offerings. The guy, clearly, is a kook, and if we learned tomorrow his mother dropped him on his skull at birth, or he mistook battery acid for LSD and dropped it as a teen, or he spends his weekend nights dressing up as Mike Brady and skipping through his apartment to Gloria Estefan’s Greatest Hits—well, I’d believe it.

No, the point is that we have local Republicans—including a man who sits on the City Council of a diverse Orange County community—absorbing it all, accepting it all, enjoying it all. Like, any human with some decency and a normal head hears the first five minutes of Schaper’s Verbal Grope-a-Thon and walks out. Not to make a point, but because what he’s saying is grotesque, and sitting there, clapping, is the equivalent of agreeing and embracing. It’s the personification of hatred.

I honestly don’t know what’s happened to modern Republicanism. Not all that long ago, we had John McCain insisting to a supporter that Barack Obama was a “decent family man citizen.” It was a beautiful moment that showed we can be kind and honorable to those we don’t always agree with.

But there, on a Monday night, was evidence to the contrary.

There was Arthur Schaper spewing bullshit, and Butch Twining nodding to bullshit, and yet another dispiriting day in the United States of America.

1. Alas, John was having an affair with his receptionist, Marge was an alcoholic by 22, the second boy loved dressing in girls’ clothing and was sent to electroshock therapy with Dr. Hanz Klautheimer, a former Nazi scientist who, too, was hiding odd feelings of lust and snorted ungodly amounts of Grade-C cocaine.

2. Weirdly, ol’ Arthur takes 0 issue with a president who cheated on wife 1 with wife 2, wife 2 with wife 3, wife 3 with a porn star he paid off in hush money. Or with the 18 sexual assault accusations. Because, hey, life is funny.