Fred Karger's bid to become the Republican presidential nominee will end next week.

Karger has devoted more than two years and close to $500,000 of his own money in his quest for the White House. The nation's first openly gay presidential candidate won zero delegates, but Karger said he had no regrets.

When asked by The Los Angeles Times whether the effort was worth the time and money, he responded: “Absolutely! Without a doubt!”

“This is money I would have spent anyway,” he explained. “Instead of going maybe to Australia for a vacation, I went to Des Moines 15 times. It was money well spent. The response, the emails I've gotten have been very, very moving and supportive.”

Before jumping into the race, Karger, who worked as a Republican adviser for 30 years, was best known for forming Californians Against Hate, the first group to protest against large donors to the campaign to approve Proposition 8, California's gay marriage ban.

In an e-mail to On Top Magazine, Karger confirmed that he would bow out of the race on June 27th, the day after the Utah primary.

“Then [I] will go back to my activism and taking on the opponents of LGBT equality. All the while wearing my cool On Top tee!” Karger said, referring to an On Top Magazine t-shirt we gave him at the start of his campaign.