Bias Watch

Chasten Buttigieg claps back at Tucker Carlson for not understanding what coming out is

Chasten & Pete Buttigieg
Chasten & Pete Buttigieg Photo: Courtesy of Chasten Buttigieg

Chasten Buttigieg hit back at Tucker Carlson after the Fox News host bizarrely chastised his husband, out Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, for “lying” about his sexuality.

Pete Buttigieg “always wants to talk about identity!” Carlson squawked last week on his show as the chyron blared, “PETE: ANTI-GAY VICTIMHOOD NARRATIVE? COUNT ME IN.”

“And the funny, ironic thing is, until just a few years ago, Buttigieg wouldn’t even admit that he was gay!”

“He hid that! And then lied about it for reasons he has never been asked to explain,” Carlson said excitedly, as if he had never heard of the concept of coming out. Pete Buttigieg came out as gay in 2015 when he was the mayor of South Bend, Indiana. “Why not?”

While talking to CNN’s Don Lemon, Chasten Buttigieg explained using small words that “my husband served under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” the policy that banned gay and bisexual servicemembers from serving in the military openly.

“This kind of rhetoric is easy,” he said. “It’s so easy to attack people and to go on your talk show and fire people up about something that’s not actually happening.”

“I love my husband deeply. I know he’s a committed public servant, and he has everyone’s best interests at heart.”

“I just think these people, again, with these megaphones… they have to have a big platform and rather than focusing on real issues, people’s lives, making them better, they’ve decided to focus on hate.”

The ACLU’s Stefan Smith noted Pete Buttigieg has in fact talked about why he felt the need to stay closeted at the beginning of his career.

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