Appearing Monday evening at a CNN town hall event in South Carolina, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg said he once would have taken a “pill” to change his orientation from gay to straight, but he no longer feels that way because of his “amazing marriage” to husband Chasten Buttigieg.
A partial transcript is as follows:
DON LEMON: I’m always surprised when people come up to me as a gay man and say, “You know, inspire me.” I’m always taken aback by that. What was that like for you?
PETE BUTTIGIEG: Yeah, it was really emotional. Also extraordinary, because I met people who have such a sense of who they are so much earlier in life than I did. I was wrestling with this well into my twenties. If there was a pill that I could take and not be gay anymore, I would’ve jumped on it.
And thank God I didn’t, because then I would not have the amazing marriage I have to Chasten. When I think about the effect that this campaign may be having on people — look, I’m not running to be the first gay president or the president of the gay United States. I’m out here to serve everybody.