The dust-up began when Booker told the Washington Post he isn’t bothered about speculation he’s gay. That assertion, Lonegan declared in an interview with a conservative online publication, was “weird.”

“I personally like being a guy,” Lonegan told Newsmax. …

“I mean that’s just sad,” Booker said. “Honestly that’s just really sad. And it’s just disheartening to hear somebody in this day and age in the United States of America … say basically – implicate that gay men are not men. That they’re not guys.”

“That kind of callous, bigoted disrespect to gays and lesbians just shouldn’t be tolerated,” he added.