The ex-mayor’s sexual orientation barely registered with voters – until now, as some LGBTQ+ millennials point to a distinction between being gay and being queer
Outside Salem high school, where Pete Buttigieg was attending a town hall rally on Sunday evening, fans could take their pick between oversized pins of the presidential nominee silhouetted against a rainbow flag, or the stars and stripes. There was a “Pride for Pete” pin, and a “Give Pete a Chance” pin. There were T-shirts screen-printed with Princess Leia and the words “We are the Resistance”, a nod, perhaps, to the debunked rumor that Buttigieg once planned to change the name of South Bend, Indiana, where he was mayor until this year, to Sith Bend. And there were sweatshirts helpfully emblazoned with a phonetic spelling of the candidate’s family name: “Boot Edge Edge”.
Buttigieg used to joke about having a name that can be difficult to pronounce, but if it was ever an electoral handicap that time is past. He enters the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday a close second to Bernie Sanders after success in Iowa. Is it a blip? For those crowded into Salem high school, with George Michael’s Freedom pumping from the loudspeakers, Buttigieg was the real deal, a candidate who could take on Donald Trump – and win.
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Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
