Pete Buttigieg, the US transportation secretary, said on Tuesday that he and his husband, Chasten, were finalizing the process of becoming parents.
“The trial is not over and we are grateful for the love, support and respect for our privacy that has been offered to us,” said Mr Buttigieg, the first openly gay cabinet member to be confirmed by the Senate. wrote on Twitter. “We can’t wait to share more soon.”
The Buttigieges, who did not respond to calls and messages asking for more details about the announcement, had been investigating the adoption in recent months.
Buttigieg, 39, married Chasten, 32, in 2018, about 10 months before starting his presidential campaign. As Mr Buttigieg’s national profile grew, he and Chasten, a former high school teacher, have often worked to challenge perceptions of same-sex relationships.
“People are used to seeing politics look different, and you’re here to make it look different,” Chasten said in an interview with The Times this spring.
In February 2020, Mr. Buttigieg, who is recognized within the government for his agility as a public speaker, hit back at radio host Rush Limbaugh, who questioned his ability to stand his ground on the debate podium with former President Donald J. Trump .
“What’s this going to look like?” said Mr. Limbaugh on his show at the time. “A 37-year-old gay man kissing his husband onstage next to Mr. Man Donald Trump?”
Mr Buttigieg’s response challenged the notion that Mr Limbaugh should be considered an arbiter of masculinity: “Look, I think he just has a different idea of what makes a man than I do,” Mr Buttigieg said during a interview on Ellen DeGeneres’s talk show. “Look, I’m not going to lecture on family values from people like Rush Limbaugh or anyone who supports Donald Trump, frankly.”
On Tuesday, activists said the couple’s announcement had the potential to similarly reformulate gay paternity assumptions.
“As parents, they will now turn a national spotlight on LGBTQ families, who often face enormous challenges because of outdated policies that narrowly define what families are,” said Annise Parker, the president of the Victory Institute, an organization that promotes LGBTQ rights. helps prepare people to run for political office, said in a statement.
