Mayor Pete Buttigieg told the Des Moines Register that being gay is just one part of who he is, but it gives him a unique ability to relate to others with a different experience.
Said Buttigieg: “I am proud of who I am. I'm certainly very proud of my marriage and my husband. We don't shy away from that. It's also not the only thing that defines me. I'm here to be a president for everyone. Talking about my experience is an important part of that. But it's especially important because it can help me relate to people who have a different experience than what I went through. All these things fit together.”
Added Buttigieg: “I think some people have an image of what a gay person or an LGBTQ activist is supposed to look like. And I think if you've met one gay person, you've met one gay person. We have different styles and different approaches. But what I try to do is just be who I am … I don't know who else to be.”
Buttigieg also talked about “healthy identity” politics in which “each identity [can] connect with every other one.”
“This is a moment where anybody who can be marked down as different is in some way vulnerable because of the way this administration works.”
A recent Des Moines Register poll showed Buttigieg placing fourth among caucusgoers, right on the heels of Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren: “Twenty-four percent of Iowa's likely Democratic caucusgoers say former vice president Biden is their first choice for president. Sanders, a Vermont senator, is the first choice for 16% of poll respondents, while Warren, a Massachusetts senator, and Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, are at 15% and 14% respectively. “
