Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Chris Jansing Reports” that he believed politicians are “targeting” the “LGBTQ community” to distract attention away from their “radical positions.”

Jansing said, “Just this morning, the Human Rights Campaign declared a state of emergency, first in its 40-year history. They cite the more than 75 anti-LGBTQ laws signed this year, double last year’s record. As you know, just last month, Homeland Security put out a report saying threats of violence against the LGBTQIA+ plus community is rising. What is going on here?

Buttigieg said, “Our country is at real risk of backsliding on freedom and equality, but that is why we continue to push. There has been extraordinary work that has been done just in this presidency, certainly the president being able to sign the Respect for Marriage Act. If you zoom out for the progress in the last 10 or 15 year, including the ability of somebody like me to be standing here doing this job, it is extraordinary. Yet now you see the attacks on the LGBTQ community and especially the trans community and what they are going through. I think that it is done out of a perception that is politically convenient to target vulnerable groups.”

He added, “Honestly, I think where it largely comes from is folks who don’t want to talk about why they were against the infrastructure law that is building roads and bridges. They don’t want to talk about why they were against $35 insulin that the president delivered for Medicare recipients. They don’t want to explain why they were for these radical positions that speak to what most people worry about in their everyday lives. So they focus on targeting some of the people who already do not have a very easy time going about in everyday life. Just think about how hard it is to be a teen to begin with and now think about how hard it is to be a teen when you realize that you are coming to terms with your gender identity or realizing that you are gay or lesbian. The last thing that you need in your life is politicians trying to score political points by making things worse for you. We will stand together whether it is pride or any given day and say no, we’re going to expand, not withdraw the freedoms and equalities that have been won in this country. We are going to build on them.”

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