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Chasten Buttigieg, the husband of U.S. Transportation Secretary and one-time presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, has made a name for himself for his social media presence, including calling out people for their anti-LGBTQ+ comments.
Below are some of the best clap backs Chasten has made whether it's defending his family or standing up for queer rights.
In this case, Chasten's target was reliably anti-LGBTQ+ U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican. After she tweeted about the significance of fathers for Father’s Day recently, Chasten Buttigieg noted the disrespect she showed to him and his husband after they became fathers of twins.
“Our two-month-old son was on a ventilator at the children's hospital when you attacked my husband for being with his family. I watched him take calls and Zooms from our hospital room all day, managing crisis after crisis while our son's heart monitor beeped in the background,” Chasten tweeted.
After the twins were born last year, Boebert criticized Pete Buttigieg for taking parental leave, saying, “The guy was not working! Because why? He was trying to figure out how to chest feed,” lampooning trans as well as gay people. Boebert and other right-wingers tend to laud stereotypically gendered parental roles; a typical argument from opponents of marriage equality was that children needed a mother and a father, never two parents of the same gender.
In March, Gov. Ron DeSantis went viral in a video where he admonished a group of children wearing face masks.
“You do not have to wear those masks, please take them off,” DeSantis told the gathered students, who were all wearing masks. “Honestly, it’s not doing anything and we gotta stop with this [pandemic] theater. So, if you want to wear it fine, but this is ridiculous.”
After the speech, DeSantis did not acknowledge the students behind him but instead quickly exited the podium.
“He didn’t care about the kids, he cared about the picture of himself with the kids,” Buttigieg tweeted in response to the video. “But hey, what do you expect from the guy who’s best known right now for bullying kids?”
Back when Florida's legislature was in the process of passing its “don't say gay” law, Chasten took Gov. Ron DeSantis to task.
“This will kill kids,” he tweeted. “You are purposefully making your state a harder place for LGBTQ kids to survive in.”
Buttigieg cited a recent survey by the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ+ youth suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization, which found that 42 percent of LGBTQ+ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year.
Over the holidays, the Buttigieg family posted multiple photos of their twins. First, for Christmas Pete and Chasten Buttigieg posted photos of themselves with Joseph August and Penelope Rose by the Christmas tree. They were spending the holiday with Chasten’s family in Traverse City Michigan. For New Year's Day, the couple posted another image.
“2021 brought with it many challenges, but it also gave us a lot to be grateful for,” Chasten wrote to Instagram with an image of him and Pete, both masked, at the White House with the twins. “Happy New Year, friends. Here's to a peaceful and joyful 2022.”
While many posted hearts and congratulations in the comments, Chasten brought attention to one commenter.
“Someone gave these [censored] kids???” one comment by Andre Kravchenko said according to a screenshot Chasten posted onto his Instagram Stories. Chasten censored Kravchenko's words. “Holy [censored.]”
“In the year 2022, you'd think these people would be wise enough to post their homophobia from an alt account, not one easily connected to their job,” he wrote as a caption. “Rather embarrassing for @AmericanHomes4Rent, a company that claims to be an equal housing provider and one that’s ‘building a culture of inclusion and belonging.’”
“I worry for your tenants.”
Chasten Buttigieg took aim at comments made by Hillbilly Elegy author and Republican U.S. Senate hopeful J.D. Vance.
He called out the remarks that Vance made at a conservative conference. Vance singled out Democratic leaders without children, calling it a negative.
Vance said that “the childless left” doesn’t have a “physical commitment to the future of this country.” He asked, “Why is this just a normal fact of … life for the leaders of our country to be people who don’t have a personal and direct stake in it via their own offspring?”
On Twitter, Chasten wrote, “Bringing a child into this world can be a long, difficult, and often heartbreaking process for any family. Shame on [Vance] for this tactless take. As a father, he should know better. As a wannabe Senator, it's clear that empathy isn't his strong suit.”
He added that not having kids “doesn’t make you any less American.”
Chasten criticized the leader of the Republican National Committee over the GOP’s platform and LGBTQ+ rights last year.
RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel began a tweet with “Happy #PrideMonth.”
“@GOP is proud to have doubled our LGBTQ support over the last 4 years, and we will continue to grow our big tent by supporting measures that promote fairness and balance protections for LGBTQ Americans and those with deeply held religious beliefs,” she continued.
Buttigieg responded to the tweet calling out the Republican party’s platform as well as McDaniel’s comment on religious views.
“Those with ‘deeply held religious beliefs’ are often the parents who force their LGBTQ children out of the home and onto the street. I've met with those kids. Forty percent of homeless youth in this country are LGBTQ,” Chasten responded. “Re-visit your party’s platform before you open your mouth about #pride.”
After Justice Brett Kavanaugh fled abortion rights protesters outside a restaurant in D.C., Chasten Buttigieg shared his viewpoints via Twitter, leading to Secretary Pete Buttigieg defending his husband's words on Fox News Sunday.
"Sounds like he just wanted some privacy to make his own dining decisions," Chasten Buttigieg wrote, alluding to Kavanaugh's recent vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 court decision that had guaranteed abortion access based on Americans' right to privacy.
