GLAAD RESPONDS TO PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN’S NOMINATION OF PETE BUTTIGIEG TO BE SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION

Barbara Simon
Head of News and Campaigns, GLAAD
bsimon@glaad.org

New York, NY, December 15, 2020 – GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization, is responding to news reports that President-Elect Biden will nominate former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg to be Secretary of Transportation. Buttigieg would be the first Senate-confirmed, openly-LGBTQ cabinet member in U.S. history once his nomination is confirmed.

GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis responded to news of the nomination on Twitter, and here:

“Mayor Pete Buttigieg would be the first Senate-confirmed LGBTQ Cabinet secretary should his nomination make it through the chamber. This will be a historic milestone for LGBTQ visibility. Pete’s experience and skills as a leader, manager and brilliant communicator, combined with his heartland roots and his unqualified commitment to diversity and equality, will improve the lives of all Americans as Transportation Secretary. Congratulations to Pete and his husband Chasten on their groundbreaking new roles.”

Buttigieg made history in February, becoming the first openly-LGBTQ person to win the Iowa caucuses. He campaigned openly, affectionately and frequently with his husband, Chasten, including appearing at GLAAD, One Iowa, The Advocate and The Iowa Gazette’s LGBTQ presidential forum in September 2019.

He came out in 2015 while mayor of South Bend and after serving in the Navy Reserve in Afghanistan.