'I love my husband': Pete Buttigieg responds to anti-gay comments

Pete Buttigieg has slammed the Republican party for embracing “homophobic rhetoric” after a Right-wing commentator suggested America was not ready to vote for a gay president.

The Democratic presidential candidate hit back at Rush Limbaugh, who had provoked outrage by claiming the US is “still not ready to elect a gay guy kissing his husband”.

Limbaugh — who was awarded a Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump during the State of the Union address earlier this month — said on his national TV show last week that Mr Buttigieg “loves kissing his husband on debate stages” and that he would look inferior standing next to the incumbent president.

In an interview with CNN yesterday, Mr Buttigieg, who married his partner Chasten Glezman two years ago, said: “I love my husband. I’m faithful to my husband. On stage, we usually just go for a hug, but I love him very much.

“And I’m not going to take lectures on family values from the likes of Rush Limbaugh.”

In another interview, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, told Fox News Sunday: “America has moved on and we should have politics of belonging that welcomes everybody. That’s what the American people are for. And I am saddened for what the Republican party has become if they embrace that kind of homophobic rhetoric.”

Pete Buttigieg

Several of Mr Buttigieg’s Democratic rivals leaped to his defence, including Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, who called the comments “hateful and offensive”.

She wrote on Twitter: “We will not tolerate this in the Democratic presidential race, and we will fight together against the hate and bigotry that Donald Trump promotes and rewards.”

Former vice president Joe Biden said Limbaugh’s comments were “part of the depravity of this administration”.

He added: “Pete and I are competitors, but this guy has honour, he has courage, he’s smart as hell.”

A Gallup Poll released earlier this month showed that more than three in four Americans would be willing to vote for a gay or lesbian candidate to be president.

Mr Buttigieg, 38, has emerged as a contender to challenge President Trump in November’s election, after performing well in the party’s first two nomination votes in Iowa and New Hampshire. The race continues with the Nevada caucus on Saturday.