Politics is already messy enough without people dusting off one of the oldest and ugliest anti-gay stereotypes in the book. Reid Rasner, the openly gay Republican running for Wyoming’s lone U.S. House seat, knows that better than most. Instead of spending the closing stretch of his campaign shaking hands and chasing votes, he’s marching into court.
Because apparently some people decided policy debates were overrated.
Reid Rasner fights back instead of staying quiet
Rasner, a 42-year-old financial adviser and founder of Omnivest Financial, is running for Wyoming’s lone U.S. House seat as a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump. But rather than making headlines solely for his campaign, he’s become the center of a series of defamation lawsuits targeting people he says spread false and homophobic accusations about him.
One lawsuit has already reached a settlement with an Iowa man who repeatedly called Rasner a “pedophile” beneath Facebook campaign posts. Several other lawsuits against current and former Republican figures remain active, alleging defamation, emotional damages, civil conspiracy, and interference with his campaign and business.
For Rasner, the legal battle isn’t about brushing off online trolls.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this in my entire life,” said Rasner, who came out when he was 20. “This just isn’t the Wyoming I knew or thought I knew. The state needs to come to terms with the hate and ignorance that’s fueled death threats and violence against me, all because of my sexuality.”
He says advisers encouraged him to ignore the attacks.
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“Everyone told me: Don’t file lawsuits,” he said. “I should have filed them on Day One.”
Honestly, that’s one way to RSVP “no” to a whisper campaign.
Old stereotypes refuse to retire
According to court filings, the Iowa defendant later admitted he had repeated the allegations after reading social media posts and articles that he believed were factual, despite having no firsthand knowledge of Rasner.
In a sworn affidavit, he acknowledged the claims were false and apologized. The settlement terms have not been made public.
Rasner says the rumors began after his widely publicized attempt to purchase TikTok with a reported $47.45 billion offer in 2025. He argues the accusations snowballed through Republican political circles and damaged both his campaign and professional reputation.
Among the controversies was a campaign poll that informed respondents Rasner had “married his gay husband in New York.” The poll found Rasner’s support was lower after respondents were given that information.
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The candidate says there is a clear difference between political criticism and defamatory accusations.
“I’ve lived in Wyoming my whole life, and I know this kind of politics is beneath our state and beneath the Republican Party. People can attack my record, my business background, or my support for President Trump, but spreading false claims to destroy my family, business, and reputation crosses a line.”
The gay panic playbook still makes appearances
If the accusations sound painfully familiar, that’s because LGBTQ+ people have spent decades pushing back against the false and offensive attempt to equate homosexuality with child abuse.
Ross Hemminger, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, didn’t mince words.
“I give Reid a lot of credit for standing up and actually doing something to put a stop to this…these are the kinds of allegations that if you don’t push back on them other people will grab it and run with it.”
He added:
“Hemminger added that the pedophilia claims are ‘disgusting, because it goes to a trope, a stereotype, about gay people that is obviously very, very untrue and wrong.’”
It’s a reminder that while rainbow logos come and go every June, some of the oldest myths about gay people continue to surface in political mudslinging.
Wyoming reflects a wider shift
Rasner occupies an unusual political lane: an openly gay Republican who supports Trump while taking positions on transgender issues that are even more conservative than the president’s in some areas.
His lawsuits also arrive as polling shows support for same-sex marriage has softened among Republicans. Separate surveys from PRRI and Gallup found overall national support remains at a majority, but Republican backing has declined compared with just a few years ago. Wyoming itself sits below the national average on support for same-sex marriage.
Despite broader debates over LGBTQ+ issues increasingly centering on transgender rights, Rasner argues anti-gay rhetoric hasn’t disappeared—it has simply become easier to dismiss when it appears online rather than in official policy.
That concern is echoed by the lawsuits themselves. They don’t revolve around disagreements over taxes, immigration, or spending. They revolve around whether false accusations rooted in long-standing anti-gay stereotypes can be deployed as campaign weapons without consequence.
Whether Rasner ultimately wins his primary is still an open question. Wyoming’s at-large House seat remains one of the safest Republican districts in the country, and recent polling places him behind Secretary of State Chuck Gray in a crowded GOP field.
But one thing is already clear: this campaign has become about more than yard signs and stump speeches. It has also become a test of whether politicians and voters are willing to push back when long-debunked stereotypes about gay people are repackaged as political attacks.