Pete Buttigieg
Mark Segal | Philadelphia Gay News
mark@epgn.com
Pete Buttigieg, who has served as mayor of South Bend, Ind., since 2012, came out as a gay man in a self-penned essay published by the South Bend Tribune. This past April, he declared his candidacy for president of the United States.
Mayor Buttigieg and I spoke on the phone about his campaign, his values and who he looks up to in the LGBTQ community
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Mark Segal: When you entered the race as an openly gay man, did you realize the historical significance and what the LGBT 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 fulfillment but also responsibility around that fact about this campaign.
What people from our community historically do you admire? Of course, anybody who seeks office 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 what that would have meant at the time. And then in my own lifetime, I remember the judiciary hearings, when they were trying to impeach President Clinton, seeing Barney Frank run circles intellectually around so many people. Realizing that he was also an out member of Congress changed my awareness of what was possible.
I also admire people who have come into the public eye recently. 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 to talk about issues like traffic and commuting as well as issues like equality.
There are so many really inspiring figures out there and obviously, I’m aware that I’m standing on the shoulders of so many who helped pave the way.
In a few decades we went from zero candidates running for public office to a man running, openly gay, for president. Have you sought advice from some of those pioneers like Barney Frank or Tammy Baldwin or Elaine Noble? Yeah, I’ve had a chance to meet Tammy Baldwin [and] 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 first to do this or the fact that we can do it at all.
The largest number of those opposing you have been religious protesters. Is there a time that either on a personal level or on the campaign that you’ve faced homophobia one-on-one? Somebody will come up on a rope line and have something nasty to say, [and] stuff com[es] 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, what’s happening to black trans women. I try not to dwell on the irritation of any of the nonsense that might come my way because … I can feel all the support that I have, [from] folks from my own team and from millions of people out there.
When [Barack Obama] was a candidate, he kept running up to the race issue, no matter how many issue papers he put out on certain subjects. … . [He] did something spectacular: He decided he had to address the issue in a major speech [just on race] in March 2008. 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? 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 find new ways to do it. I think … also [about] the steps that President Kennedy had to take to reassure voters that they could vote for the first Catholic president. I remember from 2008 people saying, “This is not an obstacle for me, but I’m just not sure about everybody else,” and finding a way to speak to that and stay ahead of it.
I think we’ll continue seeking the right ways to do that, true to who I am and true to what we need to convey as well.
There’s this old saying — politics is a dime and a day — meaning politics can change on any given issue, and you can’t stay in politics unless you raise funds. You’ve had an incredible success at raising funds. You have [enormous] support from the LGBT community, which would like you to stay in through the convention. Do you feel an obligation that regardless of where the polls go or where the votes go that you need to stay in just to be front and center on this issue? There are so many things that motivate this campaign. We’re certainly conscious of the historic nature of it, and at the same time, there are many reasons why we’re in this and why I’m going to stay in it. We want to know that I’ve got the resources to go the distance. I’m glad that we do, because … sometimes what’s making things harder for you politically can turn around and be an asset a few months or weeks later.
Some of the candidates who will be appearing with you at this week’s CNN Town Hall meeting on LGBT equality have long-standing positions — Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden — and have evolved on our issues long before most others. How do you differ from them on LGBT issues? I think we all have different areas of emphasis. I’m certainly proud of my record, not just in terms of my identity but what we’ve done, because I think it’s important not to take for granted or assume that, just because I’m out, LGBTQ voters are going to automatically decide I’m the best person. I think that what’s really important is to have a robust and strong plan. And to me, the Equality Act is very important, but I hope it’s also understood that there’s a lot more that we need to do proactively. Each of us has an obligation to put forward a robust plan and not simply make it seem as though we think that the struggle was won when marriage equality came to the land or that the Equality Act is all we’ve got to do.
One of the most important things you do [is be] a role model for LGBT youth. That’s a heavy responsibility. How does that weigh on you? When … people see in you so much more than one person can really be, you realize that it’s not just you but what you’re building. And to me, the best way to make good on that is not only to seek to act with integrity and do the right thing, but also to make sure that our campaign organization shows the values that we’re trying to promote, including the idea of belonging.
It’s part of what I’m trying to build for the whole country. And I’m very mindful of the obligation to live up to the need to model and support those values.
I want to share something I received recently. It’s worth reading…and perhaps…just maybe it will open a few eyes.
We are and have been witness to a travesty within our elected government in Washington. Bi-partisanship has been lost to history, every issue has become partisan for political gains. What caused it? A Washington outsider won the presidency. A man with zero political experience, not even at a local level like a county commissioner. How did it happen? Politicians didn’t listen to the people, they believed they were so powerful, smart and so experienced that people would just take their word for it. Evidently they were not as well loved by the people as they thought. A classic case of contagious narcissism. They were so in love with themselves they had no doubt that they had won the election before the people voted, that they had defeated the outsider and they were completely, totally caught off guard by the loss.
On November 9th, 2016 the Washington establishment woke up to an outsider being president elect. Instead of self reflexion, how did this happen?, they declared war. It did not begin democrat against republican, it was Trump haters on both sides working together, party lines did not matter. On the other side was the people, the people so fed up with the Washington BS that they wanted an outsider to stir up the establishment. Another front was most of the establishment media. We can add them on the never Trump side.
Donald Trump’s first year as president was fighting the establishment, the intelligence agencies, the media and the hatred caused during the election and many very bad allegations alleged during the election, most from anonymous sources. Chuck Schumer warned, don’t mess with the inteligence agencies, they have 7 ways from Sunday to get you. Get ready for leaks of a biblical proportion. That first year was leaks galore, everyday, no matter what happened in the white house it was all over the media the following day. They even had a name for the leakers as if they were true patriots. We saw the birth of the resistance movement within the Washington establishment, against anything the president wanted to do. The media content was 90% or more negative against the president.
In the beginning it wasn’t that the people loved Donald J. Trump, they were fighting back against congress, both sides of the ailes. Any outsider may have won but, it became evident that Donald Trump was doing what he said, draining the swamp. At least it appeared so. The senate had a one vote majority of republicans but 2 of them (McCain and Flake) were clearly and openly never Trumpers. Many others were resistant to getting on the Trump Train including the majority leader. Why the senate was so pivotal was the conformations. All the heads of the regulatory agencies, the inteligence agencies and many others, thousands of others. They set a new record for holding up those conformations and leaving their people in high ranking places. They were preventing Trump from assembling his team of people.
Three things happened to change that resistance in the senate. First one you might not have thought of, Barack Obama left a gift for Trump, he had bypassed congress and resorted instead to the power of his phone and pen, Executive Orders. The gift part was leaving so many things that were not part of law that would have required congressional approval to change, they were merely policy of the “former” president. As the current president, Donald Trump used his executive powers and changed those policies. Not without a fight, democrats took it to the courts. DACA as an example, an activist judge issued a stay preventing Trump’s removal of DACA protections, that was overturned in the supreme court giving Trump the final win. Democrats had been all over the media bragging they had blocked Trump but totally silent that they lost in the end. It was the same results with the travel ban, in the end Trump won.
The second thing was Donald Trump bi-passed the media, he used his twitter account to take it to the people. It wasn’t just Trump supporters reading the president’s tweets, it was everyone in the media looking to twist and turn his words against him. The outrage that they could not stop the president talking directly to the people caused some insanity. The silliest was a former CIA operative, she started a go-fund-me account hoping to get a billion dollars towards a downpayment to buy Twitter just so they could block Trump’s Twitter account. She did raise about a million before that insanity stopped. Others were threatening not only Trump, they were threatening his family including his 10 year old son. Trump hating trolls. The president blocked some of the worst offenders and they took that to the courts. They claimed that Trump’s twitter account had no rights to privacy because he became an election official, it was their first amendment rights to say or do anything on his account.
The third thing really surprised the never Trumpers in Washington. Donald Trump went after them in their home districts, held rallies with 10’s of thousands of people and instead of endorsing them, he rallied directly against them. That had never happened, he directly threatened their careers in the establishment, it did not matter if they had an R in front of their titles if they no longer had a title that did not begin with “Former”. It did not take long with a couple of the establishment RINO’s losing their primaries to learn that Trump had more support of the people than they thought they had. It forced many of them to decide which was more important, their hatred of Trump or their careers. Either climb on the Trump train or get left behind at the station.
Hillary said something this last week I can’t quote verbatim, it was something like dealing with Trump during the election was like dealing with a crazy tornado. That was about the closest thing she has said in a long time that resembled the truth. No matter what or how much they threw at him they could not stop mother nature. Even these climate activists have never claimed they can stop a tornado in their speeches claiming they can control the climate if we give them enough money. Money is also part of it, Hillary spent about 4 to 1 in her election and still couldn’t stop him.
Immediately following the election the narrative was Trump was illegitimate, not properly elected. Jill Stein raised more money for her recount campaign than she had raised for her campaign for president. They then brought in the Insurance policy that Peter Strzok told Lisa Page about, Russian collusion, Trump only won because he conspired with the Russians. They presented a dossier to prove it. Investigations in the house and senate went on for 10 months, they couldn’t find the smoking gun. Then Trump fired Comey, the narrative then became he was obstructing justice by firing Comey. Comey testified to congress and did not answer questions about any open investigations of Trump but alluded to the fact there was one. Because Trump appeared to have fired Comey because he was investigating the president they had to get a special prosecutor to investigate. 22 months later and the special prosecutor was unable to find a smoking gun. During the anal probes of Trump or anyone associated with him they still do not have a justifiable reason to impeach him.
This past week many of us see the same ole same ole. Before any evidence came to light the democrats have already determined Trump is guilty of trying to get foreign help for opposition research against a political rival. The information was based off of a CIA agent who in the course of his duties at the white house had gotten information second hand that he listed in a whistleblower complaint. Same thing, distort it to the worse case scenario and pronounce guilt without evidence. Even after Trump had released transcripts of the call in question was the allegation of obstructing justice and a coverup of a possible crime. I’m looking at it like seeing the boy who cried wolf so many times that when the wolf did show up, no one listened to the boy. Just when democrats finally believe they have a smoking gun they can use to get rid of Trump, his poll numbers jump to the highest level he has had since being elected.
Just because I’m gay, does not mean I have to vote for a Democrat-Socialist. The liberal media has been presenting South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg as a centrist democrat who can appeal to working class Trump voters. Like everything else the liberal media says, this is a lie. Buttigieg just released all of his policy platforms and he may be the craziest leftist in the crop democratic 2020 hopefuls. He’s all about the socialism and says our security and freedom depend on banning guns and opening up the borders to unchecked immigration.
On his website, Buttigieg laid out all of the shitty things he would do to this country if he were elected president. Under the title of “freedom” these are the thing he thinks will guarantee our liberty:
“Medicare for All Who Want It” Pete believes in universal health care. The health care system we have today is both unjust and inefficient.
Freedom means access to affordable higher education. Debt-free college
Major federal investment in…climate adaptation and resilience.
Freedom means racial justice, and reversing the damage of past and present racism to our communities, policies, and politics. Create a commission to propose reparations policies for Black Americans (Democrat-Socialist candidates want YOUR vote…so they’re willing to promise you EVERYTHING…but don’t expect to get all those promises…it is all about changing America into a Socialist nation. All those promises will come at a PRICE. And when you have ‘big-brother’ looking over your shoulder…you may want to consider WHY you voted any of these politicians into office. Freedom means being able to make decisions about your reproductive health based on what’s right for you. The government’s role should be to make sure all women have access to comprehensive affordable care, and that includes preventive care, contraceptive services, prenatal and postpartum care, and safe and legal abortion.
So according to George Orwell’s novel 1984, er I mean Pete Buttigieg, freedom NOW calls for Socialism, Abortions, and Ladyboys in the military. All of which are frightening, but somehow his idea of security is even worse:
Security means protecting our environment and treating climate change and climate disruption like the national emergency it is. Implement a Green New Deal with all available tools including a carbon tax-and-dividend. Also, how exactly does he plan to implement this, when China and India are two of the worst contributors to Climate Change? Nobody ever has an answer as to how these two nations have ignored the concerns that seem only to be the United States. I am glad to see that President Trump pulled us out of the Paris Agreement. This was nothing more than another way for foreign countries to rip off America, and we end up footing the bill for it. I don’t know about you, but I like keeping my money…and not shelling out to illegal immigrants, socialized medicine and the like thereof.
Again, these are the items Mayor Pete feels should be Security for the U.S.
1. Comprehensive immigration reform must include a pathway to citizenship for immigrants living, working, paying taxes, and contributing to our American story, including DREAMers; resources to end the backlogs in our lawful immigration and asylum processes…evaluate ICE and CBP practices…prevent arbitrary targeting of immigrant communities by enforcement officials.
2. Raise the minimum wage to $15 and strengthen overtime protections
3. Security means ensuring every American family has safe, affordable housing.
4. Increase federal resources for countering domestic terrorism and white supremacist violence
SO ACCORDING TO THE MINISTRY OF TRUTH, I mean Pete Buttigieg, security is fighting non-existent global warming, raising the minimum wage, free housing, open borders, and cracking down on whitey.
It is in his “gun safety reform” however that security takes on a new meaning:
Security means common-sense gun laws. Raise the standard of gun protection and ownership to make all Americans safer. So make it harder for people to get guns to make them safer? How does that work? Apparently like this:
Hold the gun industry accountable, Ban military-style assault weapons, Establish a nationwide gun licensing system, Yup, that’s right. Attacking gun makers, banning weapons, and making people pay and beg for their gun rights is “commonsense” that makes us all safer. It’s almost like the RED FLAG that’s going on in most liberal states: If you own a gun and somebody feels you are a threat…then they can call the police and have your weapon seized. Think about that for just a millisecond. That means you would lose your rights…because somebody feels YOU are a threat. The same thing happened during the Salem Witch Trials…but I digress.
And speaking of things that make no sense…
Pete knows that America can protect gun rights and balance the Second Amendment with sensible gun laws. He understands that solving the gun violence epidemic requires a comprehensive approach, and that begins with universal background checks as the foundation for reducing gun violence. Pete also understands that solutions to gun violence are not an “either-or” proposition, and universal background checks must be accompanied by a package of other reforms to reduce gun deaths nationwide…
Ban guns and making it harder and costlier to own guns is not in balance with the 2nd Amendment and does the opposite of protecting gun rights. Does charging a poll tax and banning elections preserve one’s right to vote? No, and this crap doesn’t do anything but eliminate the right to keep and bear arms.
Buttigieg is trying to sell that freedom is surrendering all of our rights and money to a socialist system where the government tells us what to do and how to think. Like I said, Buttigieg just emerged as the most extreme leftist running for president. He is right up there with those Democrat-Socialists running in 2020.
I’ll be voting for President Trump. He was an outsider, no political past and who is shaking things up in D.C., so Americans can be back in control instead of politicians.