Pete Buttigieg urges LGBTQ people to vote: “Help is on the way”
“The most powerful thing we can do right now is to vote," Buttigieg said
Pete Buttigieg has urged LGBTQ people to get out and vote, assuring them that “help is on the way.”
The former presidential candidate and mayor of South Bend, Ind., who has become a prominent campaign surrogate for former Vice President Joe Biden, offered a message of hope to voters in an interview with LGBTQ Nation.
“The most important message to the community is that help is on the way, and we’re trying to make sure we see that through,” Buttigieg said. “The most powerful thing we can do right now is to vote.”
He noted that Biden has committed to passing the Equality Act, which would enshrine LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections into federal law, within the first 100 days of his presidency, as well as other pro-LGBTQ issues including adoption, equality in health care, and trans-inclusive guidance for schools — which the Trump administration previously revoked.
Buttigieg also cautioned about the fate of LGBTQ equality based on the outcome of the election, saying he is “very worried about our rights.”
He referenced a recent dissent from Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, who argued that the court should overturn its 2015 marriage equality decision.
Read more: Supreme Court Justices Thomas and Alito call for overturn of marriage equality
“I try to remind people time and time again that no gain is permanent, no gain is secure,” Buttigieg said. “There’s reason to be worried, especially when you have [Supreme Court Justices] Alito and Thomas announce smoke signals that they would even put something as basic as marriage back on the table, to say nothing of our chances of actually moving the ball forward.”
Buttigieg made similar comments about marriage equality in a recent appearance on Fox News. Speaking about the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who holds anti-LGBTQ views, Buttigieg said his marriage to husband Chasten could depend on the Supreme Court.
He noted that there are “all kinds of interesting questions on the future of the American judiciary,” before pivoting from health care to same-sex marriage.
“Right now as we speak the pre-existing condition coverage of millions of Americans might depend on what is about to happen in the senate with regard to this justice,” he said on Fox News. “My marriage might depend on what is about to happen in the Senate with regard to this justice.”
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