Many gay voters take pride in Buttigieg’s presidential bid
PROVINCETOWN, Mass. — When samesex marriage was legalized in Massachusetts in 2004, Mark LeMiere came to Provincetown, a storied gay mecca at the tip of Cape Cod, to tie the knot with his partner of 20 years.
The pair were there again Friday, amazed to be attending a rally for the first serious gay presidential candidate.
“I never in a million years thought we’d be allowed to be married, let alone see an openly gay man run for president,” said LeMiere, 56.
Win or lose in the 2020 presidential race, Pete Buttigieg, the 37yearold mayor of South Bend, Ind., is energizing LGBTQ Americans. He is helping a longmarginalized community advance in political stature and pride in a way some compare to the effect Barack Obama’s presidency had on African Americans.
“Mayor Pete Buttigieg is transforming America’s perception of LGBTQ people,” said Annise Parker, president of the Victory Fund, an LGBTQ political group that endorsed Buttigieg in June, the first time it had endorsed a presidential candidate.
Buttigieg does not put his sexual orientation at the center of his campaign, but he is not hiding it either.
When he traveled to Provincetown for a campaign event Friday, Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten, received a hero’s welcome from a town that, after the 2010 census, had the highest proportion of samesex couples in the country.
Buttigieg and his husband have become the most highprofile gay male couple in America.
Asked about potential backlash, Buttigieg cites his experience coming out as gay in the conservative state of Indiana in 2015.
“I came out not knowing what the consequences would be and, in the end, got reelected with 80% of the vote,” he said.
But that could be a risky political bet in a campaign against President Trump. Many of Trump’s supporters are among the 31% of Americans who oppose gay marriage, according to a 2019 Pew Research Center poll, and even some of Buttigieg’s admirers question whether the country will accept a gay man as president.
Antigay sentiment is still a powerful force. There are only 20 states where LGBTQ people are protected against discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. Just 46% of Republicans say they are open to electing a gay president, a Quinnipiac University poll found.