Mayor Pete Buttigieg Chats About the Challenges of Growing Up Gay and Finally Finding Love

“I had no idea what it was like to be in love… I realized it was time to come out.”

Candidate Photos/Newscom/ZUMA Press

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Earlier today, we told you about presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg’s appearance in front of a sold-out crowd at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Thursday night. He took the chance to share his plans to bring the rigor of running a small rust-belt town (South Bend, Indiana) to the White House. But there were many more moments from this wide-ranging hour-long chat with Mother Jones Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery that we think are worth highlighting. Here are five clips, including a candid back-and-forth about the challenges of coming out while in office, and what it really takes to beat Trump.

Growing up gay in Indiana

“You think there’s something wrong with you,” Buttigieg says of being in the closet in high school. The 37-year-old mayor stands out for being the first openly gay man to run for president from a major party—his husband is a fun Twitter follow. He spoke in personal detail about growing up gay in rural Indiana, hiding his sexuality while he served in the military, and finding love as an adult. Watch below:

“Mayor Pete”, as he’s known to his constituents, said that even though his electorate trended towards social conservatism, voters overwhelmingly supported his decision to come out. Stay for the kicker of this video:

Taking on Trump

Buttigieg (pron. Boot-edge-edge) relayed several big policy ideas throughout the talk, many of which he shares with other candidates in the crowded field. But Buttigieg said the strength of his ideas, as well as his commitment to addressing why voters went with Trump in the first place, would make him stand out. “A message is something that makes sense no matter who’re you’re running against.”

Day One in the Oval Office

Buttigieg said his top priority would be democratic reform. “Every other issue we face, every policy issue—of which I believe the most urgent is climate—every one of those will not get solved properly as long as our democracy is this twisted,” he said.

Advice to voters

Not without a sense of humor, the Millennial Mayor had some advice for democratic voters at large: “What you want to do is nominate a really forward-thinking…”

For a full, in-depth look at the event, and even more about Mayor Pete, you can check out our longer recap here.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

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AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

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