Chasten Buttigieg, husband of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, is once again calling out a homophobe.
In this case, it's reliably anti-LGBTQ+ U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican. After she tweeted about the significance of fathers for Father's Day, Chasten Buttigieg noted the disrespect she showed to him and his husband after they became fathers of twins.
After the twins were born last year, Boebert criticized Pete Buttigieg for taking parental leave, saying, "The guy was not working! Because why? He was trying to figure out how to chest feed," lampooning trans as well as gay people. Boebert and other right-wingers tend to laud stereotypically gendered parental roles; a typical argument from opponents of marriage equality was that children needed a mother and a father, never two parents of the same gender.
Just last week, Boebert put aside her disdain for the secretary, the first out Senate-confirmed Cabinet member, and wrote a letter to him seeking a Department of Transportation grant for bridge construction in her district, even though she opposed President Biden's infrastructure legislation, which established funding for the grant program.
Both Buttigiegs have shown expertise in taking on homophobes. In January, a man named Andre Kravchenko responded with an antigay slur to an Instagram post with the couple holding their children at the White House and wishing followers Happy New Year. The comment came from Kravchenko's business account.
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"In the year 2022, you'd think these people would be wise enough to post their homophobia from an alt account, not one easily connected to their job," Chasten Buttigieg wrote in response; he had redacted the slur. "Rather embarrassing for @AmericanHomes4Rent, a company that claims to be an equal housing provider and one that's 'building a culture of inclusion and belonging.' I worry for your tenants."
And last year he slammed the Republican National Committee's Pride Month tweet, in which Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said her party supports "measures that promote fairness and balance protections for LGBTQ Americans and those with deeply held religious beliefs." He replied, "Those with 'deeply held religious beliefs' are often the parents who force their LGBTQ children out of the home and onto the street. I've met with those kids. Forty percent of homeless youth in this country are LGBTQ. Re-visit your party's platform before you open your mouth about #pride."
