POLITICS
Pete Buttigieg on His Campaign’s Historic Meaning
South Bend mayor, presidential hopeful refl ects on ties to LGBTQ community
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg at the Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg in April.
BY MARK SEGAL
Pete Buttigieg, who has
served as mayor of
South Bend, Indiana
since 2012, came out
as a gay man in a self-penned essay
published by the South Bend
Tribune just weeks before he faced
voters for reelection. This past
April he declared his candidacy for
president. Buttigieg and I spoke on
the phone about his campaign, his
values, and whom he looks up to in
the LGBTQ community.
MARK SEGAL: When you entered
the race as an openly gay
man, did you realize the historical
signifi cance and what the LGBTQ
community expected?
PETE BUTTIGIEG: You know,
it’s one thing to realize it in theory;
it’s another to see it play out in
practice. Seeing teenagers come up
to me and let me know what this
campaign means to them, and
folks who are of a different generation,
who just never thought that
they would see this, sometimes
coming up with tears in their eyes,
really has made me feel a different
level of awareness and fulfi llment
but also responsibility around that
fact about this campaign.
SEGAL: What people from our
community historically do you admire?
BUTTIGIEG: Wow, well of course
anybody who seeks offi ce and is out
owes a lot to Harvey Milk and the
tradition that he now represents.
It’s almost impossible to imagine,
I think now looking back, what
that would have meant at the time.
And then more recently, in my own
lifetime, I remember seeing the Judiciary
hearings, when they were
trying to impeach President Clinton,
and seeing Barney Frank just
run circles intellectually around
so many people. Realizing that he
was also an out member of Congress
I think changed my awareness
of what was possible. I also
admire people who have come into
the public eye recently, some even
later than I have. Danica Roem in
Virginia, just extraordinary the
way she has been able not just to
break barriers and challenge the
backwards-looking culture warrior
that she beat but also to do it
in a way that truly focused on her
constituents, and talk about issues
like traffi c and commuting as well
as issues like equality. There’s so
many really inspiring fi gures out
there, Annise Parker, I could go on
DONNA ACETO
and on. And obviously I’m aware
that I’m standing on the shoulders
of so many who helped pave the
way.
SEGAL: Have you sought advice
from some of the pioneers like Barney
Frank or Tammy Baldwin or
Elaine Noble?
BUTTIGIEG: Yeah, I’ve had a
chance to meet Tammy Baldwin,
and again Annise Parker has been
a great source of encouragement
and support as well as advice. I’m
not sure what’s more amazing, the
fact that we’re the fi rst to do this
or the fact that we can do it at all.
Part of just living it seems strange
that I’d be the fi rst major candidate
to do this, then again you think
about where we were just a decade
ago.
SEGAL: Is there a time that either
on a personal level or on the
campaign that you’ve faced homophobia
one-on-one?
BUTTIGIEG: Well yeah, somebody
will come up on a rope line
and have something nasty to say,
or you see stuff coming in the mail,
although I don’t pay too much attention
to that. But I gotta say that
any homophobia that comes my
way is less concerning than what’s
happening to so many youth and
really vulnerable people out there
of any age around the country,
what’s happening to black trans
women endangering their life, I try
not to dwell on the irritation of any
of the nonsense that might come
my way because I’ve got, I can feel
all the support that I have, folks
from my own team, and from millions
of people out there. I think of
all the people who don’t know that
they have that support, who don’t
know that we’re rooting for them
when they’re dealing with whatever
it is their up against.
SEGAL: One of the most amazing
similarities I see in your campaign
is one I saw in President
Obama’s campaign. When he was
a candidate, being the fi rst major
African American running for
President, he kept running up to
the race issue no matter how many
issue papers he put out on certain
subjects. Similarly, you’re the
fi rst out gay man, and therefore no
matter how many issue papers you
put out, it still comes up. President
Obama, then candidate Obama,
did something spectacular. He
decided he had to address the issue
in a major speech in March of
2008, just on race. Do you think
if that one issue keeps plaguing
you, you’re going to have to give the
LGBT equality speech, and are you
prepared to do that?
BUTTIGIEG: Well, I’m not sure
my equivalent of that speech will
be a speech, although it might be.
I think it is important for folks to
hear me tell my story, and while
I’ve done it in a number of ways,
I may need to fi nd new ways to do
it. I think not only about President
Obama’s example, but also
the steps that President Kennedy
had to take to reassure voters that
they could vote for the fi rst Catholic
President. So often it comes into
form, and I remember this from
2008, is people saying ‘this is not
an obstacle for me but I’m just not
sure about everybody else,’ and
fi nding a way to speak to that and
➤ PETE BUTTIGIEG continued on p.19
October 10 - October 23, 2 18 019 | GayCityNews.com
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