Karen Pence Pushes Back at Buttigieg, Defends Anti-LGBTQ Faith

Second Lady Karen Pence said fellow Hoosier Pete Buttigieg has no right to attack her husband, Vice President Mike Pence, for his religious beliefs.

"I think in our country we need to understand you shouldn't be attacked for what your religious beliefs," Karen Pence told The Brian Kilmeade Show on Fox Radio.

Of course, Mike Pence as governor of Indiana signed a law allowing gay Indianans like Buttigieg, Mayor of South Bend, to face discrimination based business owners' religious beliefs.

And Buttigieg seemed to upset the Pences by describing his own differing religious beliefs and his suggestion that if Pence has a problem with Buttigieg's sexuality, then "your quarrel, sir, is with my creator."

Karen Pence of late has come under fire herself for teaching at a religious school where teachers must sign a contract for moral conduct. The contract prohibits "heterosexual activity outside of marriage (e.g., premarital sex, cohabitation, extramarital sex), homosexual or lesbian sexual activity, polygamy, transgender identity, any other violation of the unique roles of male and female, sexual harassment, use or viewing of pornographic material or websites, and sexual abuse or improprieties toward minors as defined by Scripture and federal or state law."

In her interview with Kilmeade, Pence said Buttigieg misunderstands the Pences' faith.

"You shouldn't be attacked for what your religious beliefs are and I think kids need to learn that at a young age that this is okay what faith people have," she said. "We don't attack them for their faith."

But in the same interview, Karen Pence also praised Buttigieg as a public servant and said when he and her husband both held office in Indiana, they had a good working relationship.

"I hold Mayor Buttigieg in the highest regard and we have a great working relationship and I see him as a dedicated public servant and a patriot," she said.

She suggested Buttigieg's recent comments on her husband had to do with his presidential ambitions and the attention the words receive from media.

Mike Pence himself has yet to respond to Buttigieg's recent comments himself.

GLAAD, an LGBTQ media watchdog, slammed Karen Pence's remarks in a Tuesday tweet. "Mike Pence's long history of targeting LGBTQ people through legislation and policy is the real attack," the group noted.