GOP congresswoman makes homophobic joke about Pete Buttigieg taking care of his children

A far-right Republican congresswoman complained about gay Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg taking “maternity leave” to care for his twins when they needed medical attention in their first months of life, almost three years ago. Pete Buttigieg’s husband, Chasten Buttigieg, came back with a first-class response.

Anti-LGBTQ+ Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), a House Freedom Caucus member, complained about not getting maternity leave. But instead of just advocating for that job benefit, she attacked Buttigieg.

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“Pete Buttigieg got maternity leave and I didn’t. And he’s a dude,” she wrote on X, as if fathers shouldn’t care for their children. “It’s time Congress gets with the times.”

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Pete Buttigieg was eligible for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which was extended in 2019 to give 12 weeks of paid leave to federal employees. The FMLA covers Congress’s employees as well.

What Luna is pushing for is maternity leave proxy voting, which would allow members of Congress to take up to six weeks off after the birth of a child and still be able to vote on legislative matters. Her bill would only apply to new parents who have “given birth,” built, perhaps, on the notion that mothers are real parents and fathers are, at best, unnecessary part-time assistants in household matters while queer families aren’t legitimate at all.

“Every parent deserves parental leave,” Chasten Buttigieg said in response to Luna. “Those first weeks are so crucial for parents and newborns. What a shame to see Representative Luna tarnish this bipartisan effort with unnecessary homophobia.”

“‘Getting with the times’ would serve you well, Congresswoman.”

Pete Buttigieg’s leave in 2021 led to numerous anti-gay jokes and attacks from the right, and the “maternity leave” joke in reference to a gay man – and specifically Pete Buttigieg – is far from new. Saying that Buttigieg took maternity leave instead of “paternity leave,” “parental leave,” “FMLA leave,” or “family leave” – to imply that gay men are actually women – is the same joke that has already been told by Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), and even The National Review.

Last year, Mike Pence made the same joke, and Chasten Buttigieg responded by noting that their children needed their dads.

“An honest question for you, Mike Pence, after your attempted joke this weekend,” Chasten Buttigieg wrote at the time. “If your grandchild was born prematurely and placed on a ventilator at two months old – their tiny fingers wrapped around yours as the monitors beep in the background – where would you be?”