Yes, It Matters That Pete Buttigieg Is Gay

[babylonsister]

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/04/it-matters-pete-buttigieg-gay/586618/


Yes, It Matters That Pete Buttigieg Is Gay
The fight for equality isn’t won, and the U.S. could use a president who understands that personally.
6:00 AM ET
Lucas Grindley
Executive director of Next City, a nonprofit journalism organization


Pete Buttigieg plays harmonica, guitar, and piano! He speaks Norwegian! Whoa, he actually speaks eight languages! I heard he even wrestled a bear live on CNN. None of the gee-whiz stories solidifying into the Buttigieg canon make any difference to me in deciding which of the Democratic candidates will get my vote. But as a gay man, I do care that Buttigieg is gay.

In my lifetime, it has been illegal for me to serve in the military, illegal for me to marry, illegal for me to adopt children, and even illegal for me to have sex. Society barred me from the first three; until 2003, the fourth meant risk of a fine or a prison sentence in some states. This discrimination did not just happen in a history book—it happened to me, and it happened to Buttigieg, too.

I am two years older than Buttigieg. We could have grown up with the same cartoons, listened to the same music, felt the same fear when we heard that Matthew Shepard had been murdered. We’ve lived through discrimination, and the fact that laws have changed doesn’t alleviate the trauma of our past. Ask our gay elders whether they’ve recovered from losing their friends and colleagues who died by the tens of thousands during the AIDS crisis. That pain is fresh.

snip//

You can be sure that LGBTQ people are paying attention to how society treats Buttigieg as a candidate. The questions on their mind: Is it safe out there? Is this really possible?

“Anytime a member of our community breaks through a barrier, it’s extremely significant,” said Representative David Cicilline of Rhode Island when I asked whether it matters that Buttigieg is gay. Cicilline ought to know; he was also the first out mayor of Providence—or any state capital. “For young members of the LGBTQ community, many of whom may be suffering discrimination or bullying or even being ostracized from their own family, seeing a member of our community run for president helps them know it’s going to be okay.”

“As we continue the fight for full LGBTQ equality,” Cicilline said, “Mayor Buttigieg’s candidacy is an important measure of the progress we’ve made.”

As a gay man, I will definitely factor that progress into my vote for president.

[robbedvoter]

1. It gave me a first positive expectation for him. Then he started talking

about Trumpies. And being gay, stopped mattering.

[rainin]

2. Trumpies? What did he say? I missed it.

[elias7]

3. Well if past is prologue, consider Obama's election

Was there furtherance of black acceptance or uncovering of hostility, or both? The acceptance of LGBT has been a steamroller over the past decade and with greater acceptance may come more overt hostility in the short term.

Fortunately, time takes care of the older staid views and will leave power in the hands of the children who grew up in a world of acceptance. For example, transgenderism is something I have had to work to wrap my head around, but for my kid, not so much. Same with L&G, racial and ethnic differences. Each generation carries less and less baggage, becomes less and less provincial.