White House denounces Pence prank as ‘homophobic’

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“The homophobic joke (…) was offensive and inappropriate,” spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told the Washington Blade newspaper (local time) on Monday. At a journalists’ association dinner on Saturday, Pence taunted Buttigieg, 41, who adopted newborn twins and took parental leave with husband Chasten in the summer of 2021.

The Secretary of Transportation took two months of “maternity leave” as US air traffic collapsed and thousands of travelers were stranded at airports, he said in US media. In the US there is no legal regulation for paid parental leave – only a few states have a legal right. Pence must apologize to women and members of the LGBTQ community “who have the right to be treated with dignity and respect,” the White House said. The English abbreviation LGBTQ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans people and queer people.

Buttigieg’s husband Chasten tweeted a picture of the Transport Secretary in hospital with one of his children on his lap. “A fair question,” he asked the former US vice president, “if your grandchild was born prematurely and on a ventilator – his little fingers wrapped around yours as the monitors beeped in the background – where would you are?”

Buttigieg caused a sensation as a candidate for the US Democratic presidential nomination. Before that, he was largely unknown on a national level. During the election campaign, he temporarily worked his way to the top of the party’s internal field in polls and rose to prominence before dropping out of the race. US President Joe Biden appointed Buttigieg as his Secretary of Transportation. He is the first openly gay federal minister in the United States.

(SDA)

Source: Blick