Not all political news needs to be bleak. Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, IN and Democratic Presidential Candidate just proved as much with a stirring address at the Human Rights Campaign’s 2019 Dinner in Las Vegas.
Buttigieg used the address to cap off a week of fundraising, including attending a dinner at the home of actress Gwenyth Paltrow and appearing before a crowd of donors at the West Hollywood venue The Abbey. In his speech, Buttigieg addressed a number of concerns about his candidacy; namely, concerns that as a white man he cannot understand the plight of people of color or women and that as a queer person he cannot win the White House.
“I may be part of the L.G.B.T.Q. community. But being a gay man doesn’t even tell me what it’s like to be a trans woman of color in that same community, let alone an undocumented mother of four or a disabled veteran or a displaced autoworker,” he said, before calling for a new solidarity as Americans. “The wall I worry about most isn’t the president’s fantasy wall on the Mexican border that will never get built anyway. What I worry about are the very real walls being put up between us as we get divided and carved up.”
Related: The parallels between Pete Buttigieg & Leo Varadkar are telling. And we don’t just mean age.
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Buttigieg then made reference to his husband Chasten, and to the fears and pressures he faced growing up as an LGBTQ individual. He also said that experience offered him a specific kind of clarity when it comes to equality. “And what every gay person has in common with every excluded person of every kind is knowing what it’s like to see a wall,” he said. “I am ready to use my story, my energy, my alliances,” he added, “and yes, my privilege, to throw myself into tearing down those walls.”
Buttigieg exploded onto the political stage just over a month ago, rocketing from total obscurity to the top of the polls. The mayor, 37, now polls among the top candidates, with only Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden holding a greater lead. Some polls even have him besting Sanders in key primary states like New Hampshire. He also continues to rake in the donor funds, taking in a whopping $7 million in the first few weeks of his campaign. Educated at Harvard and Oxford, Buttigieg served a tour in Afghanistan during his military service. He married husband Chasten Buttigieg, a schoolteacher, in 2017.
iamru2
What exactly is the “plight” of people if color and women? He talks like it’s 1910. These groups have every conceivable advantage going for them today! If they are being held back in any way it is of their own doing and certainly not from society!
MacAdvisor
iamru2, rarely have I seen such profound and utter ignorance expressed with such certainty and clarity in a public forum. You really believe women and people of color have “every conceivable advantage going for them”? Wow, hard to believe some so blindingly unaware can actually type, let alone read.
Apolodorus
Troll who is unable to pick up basic statistical information on topics he speaks on? Check!
iamru2
@mac You sound defensive , I think you see some truth in my statement.
curiobi
Stop. Feeding. The. Troll. Thank you. That is all.
iamru2
@ curio don’t be such a hater, and relax your crack , you don’t get to dictate what people say!
curiobi
I don’t speak racist Troll so I can’t help you.
truthseeker
Mayor Pete is slowly becoming more like Hillary Clinton. No substantive policy, only fundraising and pandering
Brian
It worked well enough for her to win the nomination.
Kangol2
He’s better than the traitorous, pathological, narcissistic racist con clown Drumpf, such a huge margin it would make the Grand Canyon jealous!
marion
It is difficult to build a consensus or a community when you play the identity politics game.
IWantAFullBeard
Actually a community is one defined by a communal identity. So, actually, it’s very easy to build consensus that way.
marion
A communal identity is the exact opposite of implementing identity politics, what are you talking about?
IWantAFullBeard
“It is difficult to build a consensus or a community when you play…”
I wrote “A community is one defined by a communal identity…”
What is confusing you? A community is created over a shared identity. That identity could be a minority status, or could be much larger, like a national creed. Does that make sense?
evanxx
The United States is “dead last” in rates of HIV suppression among comparably well-resourced countries. Why aren’t the Democratic candidates for President talking about this? Pete Buttigieg never talks about HIV/AIDS. The HRC event would be the perfect place to bring it up! Has he ever mentioned Stonewall or the Gay Liberation Movement that made his candidacy possible?
Luminosity
“Gay Liberation Movement”? You sure sound like a communist or a socialist. There are many issues facing this country and not many people in the Mid-West care about the HIV or Stonewall old stuff. Stop living in your gay bubbles and get in touch with the political reality.
IWantAFullBeard
Luminosity – You just wrote the single stupidest comment I have ever seen in Queerty. Stupid on a number of levels. Congrats.
evanxx
Luminosity – did you just crawl out from under a rock? The gay rights battle which was ignited by the riots at Stonewall was originally named the “Gay Liberation Movement”. Without it, LGBTQ people would not enjoy the legal protections & marriage equality they take for granted today. The pioneers of LGBTQ rights were activists like ME who are now Senior Citizens living on Social Security & food stamps. I am also an HIV/AIDS advocate because the battle against this disease is far from over! I’ve been living with AIDS for 30 years. THERE’S STILL NO CURE! Access to HIV prevention drugs is very limited, so there are thousands of new infections a week (including the Mid-West)! So pull your head out, dude. The “political reality” is us old AIDS survivors and civil rights activists are here, and WE VOTE!
Felecia
Actually, NO ONE is talking about HIV/AIDS anymore…as far as presidential candidates, anyway. Perhaps Mayor Pete thinks that if he does, it will only enforce the ugly lie so popular among our haters; that the gay/bi male community is the one RESPONSIBLE for the disease in the first place. The idiot bible-thumpers here in Indiana still believe that ‘it’s God’s plan’ for same-sex sinners…so I understand Pete’s reluctance to mention anything yet. This does not mean that he won’t, once elected and holding the executive power to do so. As for Stonewall; it WAS a long time ago, even before MY time, and I’m 55. Do we ask black Americans if they have personal knowledge of Nat Turner and his siege against Harper’s Ferry during the slave years..??? Yes, a lot of people were sacrificed for our right to be ‘out and proud’ these days…and LGBT films and documentaries are fully available on Netflix and Hulu, to educate both OUR youth and anyone else who desires to be better informed of the historical struggle we have endured and in some ways, continue to do so…or simply ASK an older LGBT person. I myself would kill to listen to someone who was at Stonewall during that riot…..I’m pretty sure I am not the only one, lol….
Jared MacBride
He’s polling zero per cent among black voters in South Carolina. Either he starts inspiring a key constituency or this vanity race of his is over fast.
Felecia
‘Vanity race’, ??? What do you call a billionaire who decided that in order to be ‘the man who has everything’, he needed to add a stint as POTUS to his possessions…good god, I can’t stop laughing at your statement, Jared. Thanks for making my day; now it’s truly better, lol…and South Carolina is but one state out of 50. Yawn, lol…..