Pete Buttigieg is gay and out. What that means for Bin's bet

Contents:

• 'BEG GAY IS NOT ENOUGH': BUTTIGIEG'S NDIDACY DIVIS LGBTQ DEMOCRATS
• THE INSANY OF DEMOCRATS ATTACKG BUTTIGIEG—FOR NOT BEG GAY ENOUGHOPPRESSION OLYMPICSMY MUNY HAS NEVER HAD A PRINTIAL NDIDATE TAKEN SERLY, AND ’S NOT SOMETHG I IMAGED HAPPENG MY LIFETIME.JOHN ARAVOSISUPDATED MAR. 31, 2019 2:29AM EDT / PUBLISHED MAR. 30, 2019 10:58PM EDT OPNYURI GRIPAS/RTERSAFTER WEEKS OF GLOWG PRS VERAGE OF PETE BUTTIGIEG AS HE’S SHOT UP THE DEMOCRATIC 2020 FIELD, THE “PETE’S NOT PERFECT” POSSE HAS KICKED TO HIGH GEAR WH AN UNUALLY PERSONAL CRICISM: BUTTIGIEG, THEY SAY, ISN’T GAY ENOUGH.“IS PETE BUTTIGIEG JT ANOTHER WHE MALE NDIDATE, OR DO HIS GAYNS UNT AS DIVERSY?” SLATE ASKED THE HEADLE (SCE CHANGED) OF A MUCH DISCSED PIECE THIS WEEK BY STAFF WRER CHRISTA CTECCI. THE FACT THAT THE PRS AND POLIL CLASS ARE EVEN TAKG BUTTIGIEG’S NDIDACY SERLY IS A HISTORIC FIRST. AN OPENLY GAY NDIDATE HAS NEVER QUALIFIED FOR A PRINTIAL BATE, LET ALONE BEE PRINT (THE JURY IS STILL OUT ON JAM BUCHANAN, BUT WHATEVER HIS ORIENTATN, HE WASN’T LEADG ANY PRI PARAS 1857).YET SOME LIBERAL VOIC ARE NOW DISUNTG BUTTIGIEG’S SEXUAL ORIENTATN (“STILL A WHE MAN”), OR AT LEAST DIMISHG THE HISTORIC DISCRIMATN GAYS HAVE FACED AS PARED WH WOMEN AND PEOPLE OF LOR (“MOST OF THE TIME GENR AND RACE ARE WAY HEAVIER BURNS THAN SEXUAL ORIENTATN THE PROFSNAL AND POLIL ENVIRONMENT,” AND “THERE WAS A TIME WHEN WAS ILLEGAL FOR TO MARRY TERRACIALLY, WOMEN AND POC ULD NOT EVEN OWN PROPERTY BUT A GAY WHE MAN ULD”). FOR THOSE CRICS, HIS RACE AND GENR NEGATE THE LTLE CRED THEY ACRD HIM FOR BEG GAY. ALL OF THIS SEEMS LIKE AN ATTEMPT TO WRE BUTTIGIEG OFF AS “JT ANOTHER WHE GUY,” STANDG THE WAY OF MORE DIVERSE NDIDAT. IT’S THE OPPRSN OLYMPICS AT S WORST: IN A BATTLE TO PROVE THAT ONE MUNY IS MORE DISCRIMATED AGAST THAN ANOTHER, WE TEAR EACH OTHER APART RATHER THAN UNE MON E. THE ARGUMENTS AGAST BUTTIGIEG FALL ROUGHLY TO FOUR TEGORI. THE FIRST IS THAT BUTTIGIEG ACTS TOO STRAIGHT TO HAVE ANY GAY CRED. CTECCI CLAIMED THAT SCE BUTTIGIEG APPEARS STRAIGHT (HE REGISTERS ON MY GAYDAR JT FE) HE MT NOT HAVE SUFFERED THE SAME DISCRIMATN THAT MORE OBVLY GAY OR TRANSGENR PEOPLE (OR PEOPLE OF LOR) FACE ON A DAILY BASIS: “A GAY MAN WHO NFORMS TO A CRIL MASS OF GENRED EXPECTATNS N MOVE THROUGH LIFE WHOUT HIS SEXUALY ATTENDG EVERY TERACTN, EVEN AFTER HE OUT. BUTTIGIEG, FOR STANCE, WOULD REGISTER ON ONLY THE MOST FELY TUNED GAYDAR…. HE MIGHT NOT BE UP AGAST QUE THE SAME HURDL THAT A GAY NDIDATE WHOUT SUCH STURDY TI TO STRAIGHT CULTURE WOULD BE.”I WAS RAISED AN UPPER-MIDDLE-CLASS FAY THE CHIGO SUBURBS. NO ONE KNEW I WAS GAY. I WAS LONELY, AND SPENT EVERY WAKG MUTE AAID SOMEONE WOULD UNVER MY SECRET. MY TEEN MD WAS SURE I WOULD END MY LIFE BEFORE I H 30 BEE EVERYONE WOULD FIGURE OUT THAT I WAS GAY, AND I’D LOSE MY FAY AND MY JOB. FORTUNATELY, THAT WAS WRONG, BUT GROWG UP LGBT ISN’T EASY. BEYOND THE QUTN OF WHETHER BUTTIGIEG PRENTS AS GAY ENOUGH—WHATEVER THAT MEANS—IS THE UGLY NOTN THAT GAYS HAVEN’T FACED THE SAME LEVEL OF HISTORIC DISCRIMATN AS OTHERS. WE WERE TARGETED THE HOLOT, SUBJECTED TO ICE-PICK LOBOTOMY “CUR” THE 1950S, FALL VICTIM TO HORRIFIC HATE CRIM, AND ONLY RECENTLY WON THE RIGHT TO MARRY OR ADOPT. WE’VE SUFFERED ENOUGH TO EARN OUR SEAT AT THE TABLE. BUTTIGIEG’S CRICS ALSO ALLEGE THAT BEG GAY ISN’T IMPORTANT TO HIM. TEN DAYS BEFORE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE WAS LEGALIZED 2015— THE MIDDLE OF HIS RE-ELECTN MPAIGN FOR MAYOR—BUTTIGIEG ME OUT TO HIS NSTUENTS AN SAY THE SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE. HE WROTE ABOUT NOT KNOWG ANYONE GAY HIGH SCHOOL, AND HOW “FOR A LOL STUNT STGGLG WH HER SEXUALY, MIGHT BE HELPFUL FOR AN OPENLY GAY MAYOR TO SEND THE MSAGE THAT HER MUNY WILL ALWAYS HAVE A PLACE FOR HER.” BUTTIGIEG HAS SCE MARRIED, AND REGULARLY MENTNS HIS HBAND CHASTEN MPAIGN SPEECH AND TERVIEWS AS PART OF A BROAR DISCSN OF THE IMPORTANCE OF EEDOM FOR LGBT AMERINS. IN A UNTRY WHICH SAME-SEX MARRIAGE HAS BEEN LEGAL FOR LS THAN FOUR YEARS, THAT IS NO SMALL ACT. ESPECIALLY FOR A SMALL-TOWN MAYOR EP-RED INDIANA, WHERE LGBT ARCH-NEMIS MIKE PENCE ONCE PRID AS ERNOR.THERE’S ALSO THE SUGGTN THAT BEG WHE AND MALE TMPS THE FACT THAT BUTTIGIEG IS GAY. WHE MEN HAVE ALREADY HAD THEIR SHOT AT THE PRINCY, THE ARGUMENT GO, AND ’S TIME FOR A WOMAN TO HAVE HERS. IT’S PELLG LOGIC. WE’VE HAD WHE MALE PRINTS FOR 224 OF THE LAST 230 YEARS. AND WHILE WE FALLY HAD A BLACK PRINT WH BARACK OBAMA, WE’VE STILL NEVER ELECTED A WOMAN. BUT WE’VE ALSO NEVER HAD A LATO PRINT, OR AN ASIAN-AMERIN PRINT, OR A JEWISH PRINT, OR A MLIM PRINT OR AN OPENLY LGBT PRINT. MAYOR PETE HAS TOUCHED A CHORD WH MANY DEMOCRATS BEE HE’S AN AMAZG NDIDATE WH A PELLG PERSONAL STORY. HE’S A LENNIAL WAR VETERAN (WHO SERVED AFGHANISTAN UNR THE “DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL” POLICY), SPEAKS SEVEN LANGUAG, IS A RHOS SCHOLAR, AND HAS AN ALMOST MR. ROGERS-LIKE MEANOR THAT’S AS LMG AS IS PTIVATG. MAYBE HE’S SO POPULAR BEE HE’S JT THAT GOOD. DEMOCRATS HAVE BEEN BLSED WH AN EMBARRASSMENT OF RICH HEADG TO 2020. WE’VE GOT OUR MOST DIVERSE SLATE OF NDIDAT EVER, AND ALSO OUR MOST APPEALG. LIKE MANY ON THE LEFT, I HAVE A FAVORE, BUT I’D BE HAPPY WH MOST ANYONE CURRENTLY NNG. STILL, AS A GAY MAN, BUTTIGIEG’S NDIDACY HAS STCK A PERSONAL CHORD. MY MUNY HAS NEVER HAD A PRINTIAL NDIDATE TAKEN SERLY, AND ’S NOT SOMETHG I IMAGED HAPPENG MY LIFETIME. THAT DON’T MEAN I’LL VOTE FOR MAYOR PETE SIMPLY BEE HE’S GAY, BUT HIS SEXUAL ORIENTATN MATTERS, AND SHOULDN’T BE THE SUBJECT OF RISN OM OUR ALLI. AS 538’S NATE SILVER PUT , “’S A BIG AL THAT AN OPENLY GAY MAN IS A SER NTENR FOR A MAJOR PARTY’S PRINTIAL NOMATN, AND IF YOU’RE A LIBERAL WHO WANTS TO EQUIVOTE ABOUT THAT TOO MUCH, YOU N PRETTY MUCH FUCK RIGHT OFF.” JOHN ARAVOSIS
• PETE BUTTIGIEG DCRIB STGGLE WH COMG OUT AS GAY: ‘YOU ONLY GET ONE LIFE’
• COLUMN: PETE BUTTIGIEG ON NNG AS A GAY MAN AND HIS STGGL WH BLACK VOTERS
• IN STIRRG SPEECH, PETE BUTTIGIEG MAK HISTORY AGA FOR LGBTQ AMERINS AS FIRST GAY BET NOMEE

'BEG GAY IS NOT ENOUGH': BUTTIGIEG'S NDIDACY DIVIS LGBTQ DEMOCRATS

By now, you may have heard that some queer people thk that Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and a current ntenr for the Democratic Printial nomatn, is not gay enough. ” I am here to notn that some of thk Buttigieg is not gay enough has an intifiable relatnship to the facts, which are that, for the purpos of this discsn, people who grew up queer this untry fall to two distct tegori of experience. And then there is the other experience, the life of blendg , only to surprise your classmat—or, more likely, former classmat who follow you on social media—wh the revelatn that you are gay.

Recently, a iend mentned that, after thirty years of teachg, she had mentned her wife class for the first time, surprisg her stunts wh the revelatn that she was gay—and I found myself momentarily marvellg at havg the optn to e out to one’s stunts or part of his mpaign, and velopg his polil persona, Buttigieg has repeatedly told a pellg story about his g out. He also waed until after attus toward homosexualy had changed and same-sex marriage had bee legal more than half the stat and was regnized by the feral ernment—all thanks to the urage and work of people who me out before Buttigieg did.

”What mak Buttigieg an easy and reassurg choice for the olr, whe, straight people, and a disturbg possibily for the queer people who seem to be cricizg him for not beg gay enough? When Pete Buttigieg walked away om this month’s Iowa uc wh the most legat, marked the first time an openly gay ndidate had ever won a state’s printial nomatg ntt.

THE INSANY OF DEMOCRATS ATTACKG BUTTIGIEG—FOR NOT BEG GAY ENOUGHOPPRESSION OLYMPICSMY MUNY HAS NEVER HAD A PRINTIAL NDIDATE TAKEN SERLY, AND ’S NOT SOMETHG I IMAGED HAPPENG MY LIFETIME.JOHN ARAVOSISUPDATED MAR. 31, 2019 2:29AM EDT / PUBLISHED MAR. 30, 2019 10:58PM EDT OPNYURI GRIPAS/RTERSAFTER WEEKS OF GLOWG PRS VERAGE OF PETE BUTTIGIEG AS HE’S SHOT UP THE DEMOCRATIC 2020 FIELD, THE “PETE’S NOT PERFECT” POSSE HAS KICKED TO HIGH GEAR WH AN UNUALLY PERSONAL CRICISM: BUTTIGIEG, THEY SAY, ISN’T GAY ENOUGH.“IS PETE BUTTIGIEG JT ANOTHER WHE MALE NDIDATE, OR DO HIS GAYNS UNT AS DIVERSY?” SLATE ASKED THE HEADLE (SCE CHANGED) OF A MUCH DISCSED PIECE THIS WEEK BY STAFF WRER CHRISTA CTECCI. THE FACT THAT THE PRS AND POLIL CLASS ARE EVEN TAKG BUTTIGIEG’S NDIDACY SERLY IS A HISTORIC FIRST. AN OPENLY GAY NDIDATE HAS NEVER QUALIFIED FOR A PRINTIAL BATE, LET ALONE BEE PRINT (THE JURY IS STILL OUT ON JAM BUCHANAN, BUT WHATEVER HIS ORIENTATN, HE WASN’T LEADG ANY PRI PARAS 1857).YET SOME LIBERAL VOIC ARE NOW DISUNTG BUTTIGIEG’S SEXUAL ORIENTATN (“STILL A WHE MAN”), OR AT LEAST DIMISHG THE HISTORIC DISCRIMATN GAYS HAVE FACED AS PARED WH WOMEN AND PEOPLE OF LOR (“MOST OF THE TIME GENR AND RACE ARE WAY HEAVIER BURNS THAN SEXUAL ORIENTATN THE PROFSNAL AND POLIL ENVIRONMENT,” AND “THERE WAS A TIME WHEN WAS ILLEGAL FOR TO MARRY TERRACIALLY, WOMEN AND POC ULD NOT EVEN OWN PROPERTY BUT A GAY WHE MAN ULD”). FOR THOSE CRICS, HIS RACE AND GENR NEGATE THE LTLE CRED THEY ACRD HIM FOR BEG GAY. ALL OF THIS SEEMS LIKE AN ATTEMPT TO WRE BUTTIGIEG OFF AS “JT ANOTHER WHE GUY,” STANDG THE WAY OF MORE DIVERSE NDIDAT. IT’S THE OPPRSN OLYMPICS AT S WORST: IN A BATTLE TO PROVE THAT ONE MUNY IS MORE DISCRIMATED AGAST THAN ANOTHER, WE TEAR EACH OTHER APART RATHER THAN UNE MON E. THE ARGUMENTS AGAST BUTTIGIEG FALL ROUGHLY TO FOUR TEGORI. THE FIRST IS THAT BUTTIGIEG ACTS TOO STRAIGHT TO HAVE ANY GAY CRED. CTECCI CLAIMED THAT SCE BUTTIGIEG APPEARS STRAIGHT (HE REGISTERS ON MY GAYDAR JT FE) HE MT NOT HAVE SUFFERED THE SAME DISCRIMATN THAT MORE OBVLY GAY OR TRANSGENR PEOPLE (OR PEOPLE OF LOR) FACE ON A DAILY BASIS: “A GAY MAN WHO NFORMS TO A CRIL MASS OF GENRED EXPECTATNS N MOVE THROUGH LIFE WHOUT HIS SEXUALY ATTENDG EVERY TERACTN, EVEN AFTER HE OUT. BUTTIGIEG, FOR STANCE, WOULD REGISTER ON ONLY THE MOST FELY TUNED GAYDAR…. HE MIGHT NOT BE UP AGAST QUE THE SAME HURDL THAT A GAY NDIDATE WHOUT SUCH STURDY TI TO STRAIGHT CULTURE WOULD BE.”I WAS RAISED AN UPPER-MIDDLE-CLASS FAY THE CHIGO SUBURBS. NO ONE KNEW I WAS GAY. I WAS LONELY, AND SPENT EVERY WAKG MUTE AAID SOMEONE WOULD UNVER MY SECRET. MY TEEN MD WAS SURE I WOULD END MY LIFE BEFORE I H 30 BEE EVERYONE WOULD FIGURE OUT THAT I WAS GAY, AND I’D LOSE MY FAY AND MY JOB. FORTUNATELY, THAT WAS WRONG, BUT GROWG UP LGBT ISN’T EASY. BEYOND THE QUTN OF WHETHER BUTTIGIEG PRENTS AS GAY ENOUGH—WHATEVER THAT MEANS—IS THE UGLY NOTN THAT GAYS HAVEN’T FACED THE SAME LEVEL OF HISTORIC DISCRIMATN AS OTHERS. WE WERE TARGETED THE HOLOT, SUBJECTED TO ICE-PICK LOBOTOMY “CUR” THE 1950S, FALL VICTIM TO HORRIFIC HATE CRIM, AND ONLY RECENTLY WON THE RIGHT TO MARRY OR ADOPT. WE’VE SUFFERED ENOUGH TO EARN OUR SEAT AT THE TABLE. BUTTIGIEG’S CRICS ALSO ALLEGE THAT BEG GAY ISN’T IMPORTANT TO HIM. TEN DAYS BEFORE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE WAS LEGALIZED 2015— THE MIDDLE OF HIS RE-ELECTN MPAIGN FOR MAYOR—BUTTIGIEG ME OUT TO HIS NSTUENTS AN SAY THE SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE. HE WROTE ABOUT NOT KNOWG ANYONE GAY HIGH SCHOOL, AND HOW “FOR A LOL STUNT STGGLG WH HER SEXUALY, MIGHT BE HELPFUL FOR AN OPENLY GAY MAYOR TO SEND THE MSAGE THAT HER MUNY WILL ALWAYS HAVE A PLACE FOR HER.” BUTTIGIEG HAS SCE MARRIED, AND REGULARLY MENTNS HIS HBAND CHASTEN MPAIGN SPEECH AND TERVIEWS AS PART OF A BROAR DISCSN OF THE IMPORTANCE OF EEDOM FOR LGBT AMERINS. IN A UNTRY WHICH SAME-SEX MARRIAGE HAS BEEN LEGAL FOR LS THAN FOUR YEARS, THAT IS NO SMALL ACT. ESPECIALLY FOR A SMALL-TOWN MAYOR EP-RED INDIANA, WHERE LGBT ARCH-NEMIS MIKE PENCE ONCE PRID AS ERNOR.THERE’S ALSO THE SUGGTN THAT BEG WHE AND MALE TMPS THE FACT THAT BUTTIGIEG IS GAY. WHE MEN HAVE ALREADY HAD THEIR SHOT AT THE PRINCY, THE ARGUMENT GO, AND ’S TIME FOR A WOMAN TO HAVE HERS. IT’S PELLG LOGIC. WE’VE HAD WHE MALE PRINTS FOR 224 OF THE LAST 230 YEARS. AND WHILE WE FALLY HAD A BLACK PRINT WH BARACK OBAMA, WE’VE STILL NEVER ELECTED A WOMAN. BUT WE’VE ALSO NEVER HAD A LATO PRINT, OR AN ASIAN-AMERIN PRINT, OR A JEWISH PRINT, OR A MLIM PRINT OR AN OPENLY LGBT PRINT. MAYOR PETE HAS TOUCHED A CHORD WH MANY DEMOCRATS BEE HE’S AN AMAZG NDIDATE WH A PELLG PERSONAL STORY. HE’S A LENNIAL WAR VETERAN (WHO SERVED AFGHANISTAN UNR THE “DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL” POLICY), SPEAKS SEVEN LANGUAG, IS A RHOS SCHOLAR, AND HAS AN ALMOST MR. ROGERS-LIKE MEANOR THAT’S AS LMG AS IS PTIVATG. MAYBE HE’S SO POPULAR BEE HE’S JT THAT GOOD. DEMOCRATS HAVE BEEN BLSED WH AN EMBARRASSMENT OF RICH HEADG TO 2020. WE’VE GOT OUR MOST DIVERSE SLATE OF NDIDAT EVER, AND ALSO OUR MOST APPEALG. LIKE MANY ON THE LEFT, I HAVE A FAVORE, BUT I’D BE HAPPY WH MOST ANYONE CURRENTLY NNG. STILL, AS A GAY MAN, BUTTIGIEG’S NDIDACY HAS STCK A PERSONAL CHORD. MY MUNY HAS NEVER HAD A PRINTIAL NDIDATE TAKEN SERLY, AND ’S NOT SOMETHG I IMAGED HAPPENG MY LIFETIME. THAT DON’T MEAN I’LL VOTE FOR MAYOR PETE SIMPLY BEE HE’S GAY, BUT HIS SEXUAL ORIENTATN MATTERS, AND SHOULDN’T BE THE SUBJECT OF RISN OM OUR ALLI. AS 538’S NATE SILVER PUT , “’S A BIG AL THAT AN OPENLY GAY MAN IS A SER NTENR FOR A MAJOR PARTY’S PRINTIAL NOMATN, AND IF YOU’RE A LIBERAL WHO WANTS TO EQUIVOTE ABOUT THAT TOO MUCH, YOU N PRETTY MUCH FUCK RIGHT OFF.” JOHN ARAVOSIS

“It’s tly embarrassg to have the first gay printial ndidate of this magnu be this nservative — next, ” poet Alex Dimrov wrote on Twter the day after the uc on Feb. Buttigieg certaly has his fair share of queer supporters — cludg several LGBTQ officials and a number of the untry’s largt gay advocy groups — his historic ndidacy has ntributed to long-simmerg tensns wh the muny boilg to public view. While the polici of the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, play a part, the tensns appear to center on power, privilege and reprentatn wh the diverse lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer muny.

PETE BUTTIGIEG DCRIB STGGLE WH COMG OUT AS GAY: ‘YOU ONLY GET ONE LIFE’

A 'middle of the road' msageButtigieg’s strong showgs Iowa and the New Hampshire primary a week later were not powered by gay voters — and may even have happened spe of them.

“I n’t jt throw my support behd him bee we’re both gay, ” Reid Chandler, 28, a D Mo rint, said of Chandler said he was exced to see an openly gay ndidate when Buttigieg first vised Iowa, he ultimately chose to uc for Warren for several reasons. The group claimed that black voters, wh whom Buttigieg has stggled to make roads, have been lled "homophobic" for phg back agast Buttigieg's Buttigieg mpaign said the ndidate has rpectfully engaged wh Queers Agast Pete activists when they have protted his events. Cabaldon, who is gay and Filipo Amerin, phed back on Buttigieg’s crics and noted that queer people and people of lor have a wi variety of policy views.

“He wants relatively powerful gay people to be allowed to live hetero society, ” Koehle wrote an open letter shared on Facebook, addg that Buttigieg is “willg to sell out” poor LGBTQ people of lor “and otherwise misf and downtrodn members of our muny to do . In an terview wh NBC News, Koehle said Buttigieg’s “privilege” is why, for example, he don’t believe rtorg votg rights to currently rcerated felons, and why he ma nciliatory ments about Chick-fil-A’s anti-gay history rather than a forceful rebe.

COLUMN: PETE BUTTIGIEG ON NNG AS A GAY MAN AND HIS STGGL WH BLACK VOTERS

”‘Gay people don’t have to be queer’Over the last several s, the word “queer” has evolved om a negative ephet to a scriptn of anyone who intifi as nonheterosexual, noncisgenr or both.

”“This notn that the first openly gay ndidate for print is sufficiently gay is homophobic, ” Skylar Baker-Jordan, a wrer om Tennsee, said The Inpennt December. “It pretends that if you’re not a polyamoro self-intifyg ‘queer’ who liv New York, San Francis, or Los Angel (or, to put bluntly, a stereotype) that you’re not dog homosexualy right. Arguments that prent Pete Buttigieg as not really gay so obvly flirt wh the sentialism queer people fight agast that ’s a b shockg to see them get tractn at all.

In a New Yorker piece tled “The Queer Backlash to Pete Buttigieg Explaed, ” Masha Gsen ends by llg Buttigieg “a straight polician a gay man’s body. ”The arguments that prent Buttigieg as not really gay so obvly flirt wh the sentialism queer people fight agast that ’s a b shockg to see them get tractn at all.

IN STIRRG SPEECH, PETE BUTTIGIEG MAK HISTORY AGA FOR LGBTQ AMERINS AS FIRST GAY BET NOMEE

Progrsive gays who survey the current polil landspe and bet that the way to succsfully enact enomic and social jtice is by triangulatg between Bernie Sanrs and Joe Bin are—and this is the stickg pot—still gay. That mantra of gay is good works as an anti-stigmatizg tool; ’s what, fact, Buttigieg was vokg by sayg he was glad he wasn’t able to medilize himself straight. Conflatg gayns wh any particular moral, polil, or athetic value the observer has emed good, though, is an act of hijackg—one weirdly siar to the rhetoril move homophob e when they say gay people are be sure, there are plenty of legimate criqu g om queer folks.

Meanwhile, the chatter patg Buttigieg as virtually straight pots to somethg that’s harr to talk about: the ways which a Democratic ont-nner is, fact, unmissably gay, and how the backlash to him is self tged wh s own stra of queer past week wasn’t the first time Buttigieg mentned havg wanted a pill to bee straight. Smh Go to Washgton pretens (regardg Mike Pence’s homophobia: “Your quarrel, sir, is wh my Creator”), and his squirmy phemisms (tch the Grdr joke? It’s hard to face the tth that there were tim my life when, if you had shown me exactly what was si me that ma me gay, I would have cut out wh a knife.