Chasten Buttigieg is fed up with the homophobia recently directed at his husband and family, and while the author appeared on two popular television shows this week to discuss his upcoming new book I Have Something to Tell You–For Young Adults (an adaptation of his best-selling memoir), he did address recent attacks by former Vice President Mike Pence.
Buttigieg criticized Pence’s recent remarks at the Gridiron Dinner, claiming Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg had taken “maternity leave” when his twins were born.
“Pete is the only person in human history to have a child, and everybody else gets postpartum depression,” Pence added.
His remarks were widely criticized online and by the White House, which asked for an apology that never came.
The comment, Chasten Buttigieg said, “flies in the face” of Pence’s supposed strong family values.
“I think it’s not woke to say that something is homophobic or misogynistic,” Buttigieg said. “It doesn’t make you a snowflake to tell someone that they’ve made a mistake.”
He explained that he would always defend his family and that Pence’s discourteous and offensive remark was particularly painful given the experience the Buttigiegs have endured as their prematurely born twins struggled with some health challenges.
Gus, the couple’s son, required intubation and intensive care admission two months after he was born, and the couple had to divide their time caring for one child while the other was critically ill, he explained.
“I would watch Pete have to peel Gus’s fingers back and duck into the little bathroom in his room so he could do a Zoom with a virtual background so nobody would see that he’s in the hospital,” Chasten said.
He explained that he has spoken up about the insulting commentary because “we all have an obligation to hold people accountable for when they say something wrong, especially when it’s misogynistic; especially when it’s homophobic.”
He added, “I just don’t take that when it’s directed at my family, and I don’t think anybody else would, especially when you bring a very small, medically fragile child into it.”
Pence defended his comments Thursday night after speaking at a Republican Party dinner in New Hampshire, according to the Associated Press.
“The Gridiron Dinner is a roast. I had a lot of jokes directed to me, and I directed a lot of jokes to Republicans and Democrats,” he said. “The only thing I can figure is Pete Buttigieg not only can’t do his job, but he can’t take a joke.”
Pence isn’t the only Trump administration official to direct vitriol at the gay cabinet secretary and his family.
Jenna Ellis, the disgraced former Colorado prosecutor who served as legal advisor to former President Donald Trump's presidential campaign, authored an extremely offensive tweet.
A user wrote, “I am extremely saddened by the hateful and homophobic comments made by Mike Pence. This is Pete Buttigieg and his family, [reply with a blue heart] if you support them,” along with a photo of Pete, Chasten, and a toddler.
“This isn’t a family. It’s two sexual perverts and a child that deserves an actual family: a mom and a dad. Children’s rights matter. Kids are not commodities,” Ellis tweeted to her nearly more than 950,000 followers.
Ellis was forced to admit that she made repeated false statements about the 2020 election, and Colorado legal officials recently censured her for that unethical conduct.
Democratic strategist Kurt Bardella noted Ellis’s tweet and put a finer point on the bigotry, wondering whether the Christian lawyer and the Christian former vice president share the sentiment.
“Wonder if @Mike_Pence shares the same sentiments as his former advisor,” he wrote.
Though not directly speaking about Ellis’s tweet but rather about GOP anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment more broadly, Chasten discussed the Republican fad of attacking queer and transgender Americans during an appearance on The Daily Show with guest host out actor Kal Penn Thursday evening.
“It’s a sad trend of people on the other side using homophobia and misogyny to try to make a point,” Chasten said.
Watch Chasten Buttigieg with the ladies of The View below.
Chasten Buttigieg Responds To Pence Targeting Husband For Paternity Leave | The Viewwww.youtube.com
