DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The qutn posed to Pete Buttigieg — gay, married and nng for print — me om a supporter at an Iowa mpaign stop: What should he tell iends who say Ameri isn't ready to elect a gay man as print? That prompted a woman the crowd to object wh an expletive, igng cheers om hundreds the dience. Of the many trigug thgs about Buttigieg and his ndidacy for print — his Ivy League, Rhos Scholar pedigree and his war service Afghanistan — a val qutn overlayg the 2020 mpaign is whether as a gay man his sexual orientatn is a barrier to the natn's hight office. The first answer will e Iowa, a state where the 37-year-old South Bend, Indiana, mayor has mpaigned equently and spent heavily. So far, Democratic voters here seem to say that Buttigieg's sexual orientatn is immaterial. "The world will be watchg. The activist world. The party world," said Pl Tew, who directed Barack Obama's 2008 Iowa uc victory, which propelled him to bee the natn's first Ain Amerin print. "It would signal to the rt of the world that this stuff don't matter, that people jt want him to be print." On Friday at an LGBTQ fom Cedar Rapids, Buttigieg amed his experience as a gay man as an advantage. "There's a culture of belongg that we need to tablish this untry," he said. "One of the reasons I'm so proud to be a member of this muny is bee I thk we have the power to reach to our own experienc, belongg to a part of Ameri that also cuts across all the other different tegori. . We uld help be that glue." Buttigieg also spoke about his own experienc facg discrimatn as a gay man, notg the "weight lifted" when the ernment's policy barrg gay men om servg the ary was reversed. He also scribed how felt to host South Bend's first blood drive and not be able to participate, due to the ban on gay men donatg blood. Buttigieg was one of 10 Democratic ndidat to speak at the fom, the first ever foced solely on the issue a printial race. The fom self is a measure of the acceptance gay rights have achieved the state party and the natn as a whole. In June, the Iowa Poll by The D Mo Register and s partners found that 62 percent of likely Iowa uc participants said would make no difference to them for a Tmp challenger to be gay. They were more ncerned, by 12 percentage pots, about a Democratic nomee beg over 70 years old. The age group most likely to disregard the notn of a gay nomee was voters 65 and olr, people like John Ser, a retired school supertennt om the Cedar Rapids area. "I have no problem wh ," said Ser, 71, who showed up at a Buttigieg mpaign office openg Cedar Rapids this month. He and his wife, Elizabeth, say Buttigieg tops their lists of ndidat. Ser's feelgs, which he scribed as unheard of his parents' generatn, speak part to a -long maturg of gay rights Iowa. In 2009, Iowa beme the first state outsi of the East Coast to legalize same-sex marriage, a change implemented by a unanimo state Supreme Court se that me six years before the U.S Supreme Court legalized gay marriage natnally. In 2003, only 23 percent of Iowans overall supported allowg same-sex marriage. By 2015, not only did 81 percent of likely Democratic uc participants support gay marriage, so did 26 percent of Republin uc goers, the Iowa Poll showed. "But, I do thk there are people who might have a problem wh . You n't get around that," Ser said. That sentiment also registered the June Iowa Poll, where 28 percent of likely Democratic uc participants said beg gay would be a disadvantage for a Democratic nomee. Buttigieg's profile the state may not be so out-of-the-ordary among Iowa's progrsive Democratic uc electorate, said JoDee Wterhof, Human Rights Campaign's senr vice print for policy and polil affairs. "That package of thgs I don't thk is extraordary to Iowa Democrats," said Wterhof, a veteran Iowa Democratic mpaign strategist and former senr adviser to Hillary Clton's printial mpaigns. "I bet you terms of the qutns he gets asked very few of the qutns he is asked are about beg gay." In fact, the qutn at the crowd outdoor mpaign event Augt was the only Buttigieg field on his sexualy durg the eastern Iowa trip. Buttigieg's answer foced on his personal hope of fdg a partner after returng om Afghanistan. "I jt had to fd the urage that said, eher way, I n live wh . But I've got to be who I am and tst the voters, based on the job I've been dog," he said, notg that he was overwhelmgly reelected mayor 2015. Still, he is not even the unanimo choice Iowa's Democratic LGBTQ muny. D Mo lawyer and gay-rights activist Sharon Malheiro, who isn't supportg Buttigieg, says his age and lack of more global experience is a liabily her md. "I'm not hearg people say I'm not lookg at him bee he's gay," said Malheiro, who is leang toward supportg former Vice Print Joe Bin or California Sen. Kamala Harris. At the same time, Buttigieg may have a built- advantage Iowa, should he emerge as the nsens choice of Iowa's LGBTQ voters, timated at roughly 80,000 and a potentially cisive slice of a uc electorate that uld number roughly 300,000. "That's a lot terms of overall uc participatn," Wterhof said.
Contents:
- IS AMERI READY TO ELECT A GAY PRINT?
- IS AMERI READY FOR A GAY PRINT? ‘YOU’RE GOG TO SEE THE WALL CMBLE’
- OPN AMERI HAS ALREADY HAD A GAY PRINT
- A GAY PRINT? THE MAJORY OF AMERINS BELIEVE THE UNTRY ISN’T READY
- IS THE COUNTRY READY FOR A GAY PRINT? DON’T TST THE POLLS
- IS AMERI READY TO ELECT A GAY PRINT?
- IS AMERI READY FOR GAY PRINT? IOWA STS FIRST VOT
- PLURALY OF VOTERS SAY THEY'RE READY FOR A GAY PRINT BUT AMERI IS NOT: POLL
- PETE BUTTIGIEG IS MAKG HISTORY WH 2020 N, BUT MANY AMERINS THK US NOT READY FOR GAY PRINT
- IS AMERI—AND THE RT OF THE WORLD—READY FOR A GAY PRINT?
IS AMERI READY TO ELECT A GAY PRINT?
Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay Democratic ndidate for print of the Uned Stat to mount a major mpaign, emerged as one of the lears the Democratic Party’s early nomatn ntts * is america ready for a gay president *
Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay U. On the mpaign trail, he speaks of beg gay terms of fay valu, emphasizg he is a lovg, mted same-sex marriage, and what his ndidacy says about cln and equaly Ameri today. WATCH: Is Ameri Ready to Elect a Gay Print?
“Pete’s succs so far this mpaign reprents an evolutn Amerin polics, upendg tradnal notns of electabily and provg that Ameri is ready to elect s first openly gay print, ” Ellt Imse, munitn director at the LGBTQ Victory Fund, said. LGBTQ is an clive signatn for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and other sexual orientatns. The same poll showed 40% of Ain Amerin rponnts sayg they are reluctant to vote for a gay man.
IS AMERI READY FOR A GAY PRINT? ‘YOU’RE GOG TO SEE THE WALL CMBLE’
Raymond Buckley, the chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, talks about Pete Buttigieg and what means to be gay and married and nng for print 2019. * is america ready for a gay president *
“If Ain Amerins were sort of disproportnately cled to not vote for somebody who is gay, you would thk that would have shown up there as well, ” said David Barker, director of the Center for Congrsnal and Printial Studi at Amerin Universy Washgton. Man, ” wh Buttigieg’s same-sex marriage, and said Amerins are “still not ready to elect a gay guy kissg his hband on the bate stage [as] print.
OPN AMERI HAS ALREADY HAD A GAY PRINT
* is america ready for a gay president *
AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTRaymond Buckley, the chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, talks about Pete Buttigieg and what means to be gay and married and nng for print Senter/Associated PrsIn 2009, Raymond Buckley was the only openly gay state chairman the Democratic Party. Ten years later, beg openly gay or lbian and polics is hardly out of the ordary, though is far more mon among Democrats than Republins.
Buckley was one of two gay men, fact, who ran for natnal party chairman 2017. The other was Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Buttigieg’s mpaign for print, which he ma official this month, unrsr how much easier is for gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr people to hold public office today.
But also lls attentn to the fact that while there are senators, reprentativ, state legislators and mayors who are gay, there is one office that has seemed out of reach: the princy. And on the right the most reliable voters are overwhelmgly anti-gay marriage.
A GAY PRINT? THE MAJORY OF AMERINS BELIEVE THE UNTRY ISN’T READY
For people who are not que there yet, do you thk that orr for them to support a gay ndidate they need to see somethg else first, somethg other than gay? Buttigieg or are there not enough people who will thk that the first gay print is an equivalently signifint tone? Pappas, who is gay, was elected to Congrs om New Hampshire last year] was never brought up.
IS THE COUNTRY READY FOR A GAY PRINT? DON’T TST THE POLLS
Not one person that I know of said, “Oh, I’m votg for him bee he’s gay, ” or, “I’m votg agast him bee he’s gay. PetersA versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 11 of the New York edn wh the headle: Can a Gay Candidate W the Princy? “If elected, you would be the first openly gay print of the Uned Stat, ” Stephen Colbert said to Pete Buttigieg after the mayor of South Bend, Ind., clared his ndidacy.
While the characterizatn of beg openly gay or “out” is relatively new, the fact is the Uned Stat has already had a gay print whose ntemporari knew : Jam Buchanan. Ined, the Uned Stat has also had a gay vice print and, maybe more surprisgly, a gay senator om stunts takg U.
Andrew Jackson referred to Kg as “Miss Nancy”— a phemism for a gay ntemporari lled Kg Buchanan’s “better half, ” and one ngrsman referred to him as “Mrs. ” All this would be que peculiar if Buchanan was not gay.
IS AMERI READY TO ELECT A GAY PRINT?
At most uld suggt Buchanan was not openly discsg this moment, we fet that beg gay the mid-19th century did not tomatilly exclu a man om natnal learship. The ia that some people, cludg policians and social lears, are gay was not news or shockg to our forefathers. S., sorry, Pete Buttigieg, you n’t aim to be the first gay print, although you uld be the first married gay print.
Poll of the week: A new Qunipiac Universy poll fds that 70% of voters (cludg 86% of Democrats and pennts who lean Democratic) say they are open to electg a gay print.
The same poll also disvered, however, that only 36% of voters (cludg 40% of Democrats and pennts who lean Democratic) thk the Uned Stat is ready to elect a gay print. He is a married gay man.
IS AMERI READY FOR GAY PRINT? IOWA STS FIRST VOT
It’s also possible that some voters are not willg to adm to homophobia, while signalg by sayg sentially, “I’m ready, but others may not be. I should note that pollg on whether the untry is ready for a gay print differs signifintly om pollg on whether Amerins thought the untry was ready for a black print 2007 or a woman print 2015.
Intertgly, all three stanc, more voters said they were ready for a black, female or gay print than thought the untry was ready for one.
But even if Amerins are more tolerant of gay Amerins than voters thk they are, more are prejudiced agast gay Amerins than they were agast black Amerins 2007 or women 2014. Today, about a quarter of all voters (cludg 10% of Democrats) told Qunipiac that they weren’t open to vote for a gay man for print. Prejudice agast gay Amerins is evint other pollg as well.
PLURALY OF VOTERS SAY THEY'RE READY FOR A GAY PRINT BUT AMERI IS NOT: POLL
About 35% of Amerins openly admted the 2018 General Social Survey that they thought “homosexual sex relatns” were almost always or always wrong. Now, Amerins have certaly bee more fortable wh the ia of a gay print than they ed to be. The percentage of Amerins who say they would vote for a gay person for print is up 15-20 pots sce 2007, pendg on the poll you look at.
The percentage of Democrats who say they would vote for a gay person for print is up around 25 pots.
Further, ’s possible that if Buttigieg be succsful on the mpaign trail, then Amerins may bee even more open to the ia of a gay print. Frank is the thor of “Awakeng: How Gays and Lbians Brought Marriage Equaly to Ameri.
PETE BUTTIGIEG IS MAKG HISTORY WH 2020 N, BUT MANY AMERINS THK US NOT READY FOR GAY PRINT
” As Pete Buttigieg, the openly gay mayor of South Bend, Ind., has surged to a top posn Iowa polls the Democratic printial primary, media reports have emerged warng that his sexualy may yet rail his Whe Hoe bid.
A recent natnal Poli/Morng Consult poll found that a pluraly of voters, 45 percent, thk the untry is not ready for an openly gay print, wh only 40 percent sayg ’s ready. Consultants have chimed to say the mayor may be ls electable than astal el realize bee he’s gay. Ordary voters are quoted sayg they — or their “vout Christian” mother — “would never vote for a gay.
IS AMERI—AND THE RT OF THE WORLD—READY FOR A GAY PRINT?
Ncerns tells a utnary tale about how to terpret claims by voters that they won’t support an openly gay ndidate for print. In 2008, a Milary Tim survey noted that 24 percent of service members said they would not want to serve alongsi gay or lbian troops. Sign up to our Eveng Headl email for your daily gui to the latt newsSign up to our ee US Eveng Headl emailPete Buttigieg, seekg to bee Ameri’s first openly gay print, has said he was sadned after learng a woman Iowa sought to ncel her vote for him after beg told of his sexualy, but said he was “nng to be her print too” a vio that went viral days after the uc, where the former South Bend mayor sneaked past Bernie Sanrs to claim victory, a woman was seen displayg surprise when she learned the 38-year-old was gay.
In his 2019 memoir, Shortt Way Home: One Mayor’s Challenge and a Mol for Ameri’s Future, he reunts makg the cisn to e out as gay before nng for reelectn South Bend 2015. “I was well to adulthood before I was prepared to acknowledge the simple fact that I am gay, ” he wrote the South Bend Tribune.
”Mr Buttigieg’s stat the race as the first openly gay ndidate of a major party, has equently been the foc of discsns among his supporters, those who back one of his many rivals, as well as polil punds.