Jay Davidson
2 min readNov 17, 2022

--

Yes, really. There is a lot to say in response to what you have written:

1. You mention "this world of extreme bias against ay people." While that is obviously true in some parts of the world, the only part that counts is within the USA because the rest of the world doesn't vote for our President.

2. Within the USA, the general population is very much in favor of marriage equality. As more and more LGBTQ people have come out to their family and friends, anti-gay bias has decreased significantly. This is especially true with the youngest groups of voters, many of whom are not only straight, but have gay friends and see sexuality as a non-issue.

3. If you have ever heard Pete Buttigieg speak or debate, you can see that he is extremely intelligent. He comes to issues with a calm and reasoned manner that demonstrates his understanding of them.

4. History shows that there have been percieved "problems" with certain aspects of candidates' identities, and once they have been elected to office, they demonstrate that their identities are nowhere near the huge "problem" that the electorate thought they would be.

Examples: [a] a Catholic President; [b] a Black President; [c] a woman Vice-President. If the only concern you had about JFK was that he was Catholic, if the only concern you had about Obama is that he is Black; if the only concern you have about Harris is that she is a woman, then the concern is more along the lines of voters' prejudices than it is about these characteristics.

I can see that if a person is politically right-wing, that s/he will not want to vote for a progressive like Buttigieg. If your only qualm is that he is gay, well, is that really all you've got?

On the greater world stage, the prime ministers of five countries have been LGBTQ: Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Serbia.

Colorado's gay governor was just re-elected. In the recent midterms, a record 340 out LGBTQ candidates around the country won their elections. That is not a small number! That includes out lesbian governors in Oregon and Massachusetts. Here is an article with more information: https://www.npr.org/2022/11/14/1136165932/lgbtq-candidates-elections-winners

So, sure, you may have a problem with Buttigieg's policy statements. And if you do, that's fine. That is what politics are about: taking sides on issues. But if your main qualm is about his sexual orientation, well then, seriously, is that all you've got?

--

--

Jay Davidson
Jay Davidson

Written by Jay Davidson

Retired teacher (San Francisco, 1969–2003); Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Mauritania, 2003–2005); public speaker, artist, writer, traveler, world citizen

Responses (1)