Meet Pete Buttigieg: A gay mayor, Afghan War vet and lennial who's nng for print

PETE BUTTIGIEG BE FIRST OPENLY GAY DEMOCRAT TO N FOR PRINT

Democratic printial ndidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a history of repeatedly sharg unfound nspiraci that man-ma chemils the environment uld be makg children gay or transgenr and g the femizatn of boys and masculizatn of girls. * gay democratic president *

Has a history of repeatedly sharg unfound nspiraci that man-ma chemils the environment uld be makg children gay or transgenr and g the femizatn of boys and masculizatn of girls.

The basels claim that chemils – particularly tap water – uld turn people gay has gaed populary wh nspiracy theorists over the years, most memorably wh nservative rad host Alex Jon, who said chemils the water were “turng the igg’ ogs gay. He’s been travelg the untry – pecially red stat – stumpg for Print Joe Bin, helpg Democrats raise money, and highlightg liberal valu on hot-button topics such as abortn and gay rights. Bair believed gay people had been treated unfairly, even imprisoned, the past.

On a recent trip to Las Vegas wh my boyiend (I’m gay) and both our mothers (aga, we are extremely gay) to see Ale (you get the ia), we both packed so much that you’d be fiven for thkg we were movg there. Elenis is that the Colorado anti-discrimatn law is fact nstutnal, except when applied to a bs that do not wish to provi a product do not offer to a nonexistent gay uple who are not seekg a webse for an imagary weddg of which the bs owner do not approve.

BUTTIGIEG, THE FIRST OPENLY GAY DEMOCRATIC PRINTIAL NDIDATE, WAS HATED BY THE LEFT. WHY?

For those who rell when jt enterg a gay bar was dangero, seeg a gay printial ndidate get so far while beg mercilsly pilloried was a disorientg experience * gay democratic president *

WASHINGTON — Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, announced Wednday that he was formg a printial exploratory mtee — makg him the first openly gay Democrat to seek the office.

Before Buttigieg, the only openly gay person to n for print was Republin Fred Karger. Buttigieg said that while beg a gay ndidate might not make news the astal ci, certaly still did Indiana, where he has anchored his still-young polil reer. The day after Pete Buttigieg won Iowa, the wrer Mark Harris, who is married to the playwright Tony Khner, tweeted: “Even if you support someone else, as I do, the fact that a gay man n w a state uc for Print is a wele tone.

”Iowa has long been somethg of an outlier – 2004 was among the few Republin ntrolled stat that rejected a nstutnal amendment banng same-sex marriage – but the ia that an openly gay man uld w the Democratic uc there took most Amerins by surprise. They wnsed a crimal and adly silence om Washgton, pound by snarky jok about a “gay plague”. In the UK, when I was at llege, gay men were still beg arrted for kissg public.

A MARRIED GAY MAN IS NNG FOR PRINT. THAT’S A BIG AL.

* gay democratic president *

We had to wa until we were five years olr than our straight unterparts to have those among who n rell a not-too-distant time when gog to a gay bar still felt dangero, watchg a gay printial ndidate get so far while beg mercilsly pilloried has been a disorientg experience. His lack of tractn wh black voters, though the end about the same as for Elizabeth Warren, remaed his achill heel to the whatever crics thoughts of his rerd South Bend, much of the nversatn was lored by lurid characterizatns of the way he chose to prent his gay the mpaign, a Slate lumnist characterized Buttigieg as havg “sturdy ti to straight culture”, whatever that means.

Then, last July, the New Republic published, then leted, an say by the novelist Dale Peck which exriated Buttigieg as “not the same kd of gay” as Peck, and by implitn many other gay men. The piece was wily nmned, but also praged what has bee a monplace meme on polil Twter: Buttigieg as a gay Uncle Tom whose succs merely reflects his servily to the stat quo.