Chasten Buttigieg, husband of Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, responded Thursday to comments made by conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh about the pair’s sexuality earlier this month.
“I’ve been dealing with the likes of Rush Limbaugh my entire life,” he told ABC News’ Linsey Davis in an interview for the network’s new election series, “Running Mates.”
Davis hosts the series, which premieres Thursday night on ABC News Live, the streaming news channel available on ABCNews.com, Roku, Hulu, Sling TV, Xumo, the ABC News mobile and OTT apps.
Last week, Limbaugh questioned Buttigieg’s electability on his radio show, describing the former Indiana mayor as “a 37-year-old gay guy kissing his husband on stage, next to Mr. Man, Donald Trump.”
“What’s going to happen there?” Limbaugh postulated. He then prompted his radio audience to imagine President Donald Trump having “fun with that” during a general election battle against Buttigieg. Limbaugh’s comments came one week after he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Trump, the highest honor a civilian can be bestowed. Biden said the bestowment was “part of the depravity of this administration.”
“This isn’t new,” the candidate’s husband said in Thursday’s sit-down. “I’ve been dealing with this my whole life. I dealt with a multitude of Rush Limbaughs when I was walking through the hallways in my high school. You have to realize that LGBTQ Americans have to come out every single day: When somebody asks who we’re married to, asks about our partner, or you feel like you want to share something about yourself but then you have to second-guess how that person’s gonna react if I say, ‘My husband,’ instead of, ‘My wife.’”
He went on to say he is more concerned with “the young people” watching the historic campaign of an openly gay man than the comments from Limbaugh.