Former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg had a simple response on Sunday when asked about conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh’s questioning whether Americans are ready to back a gay candidate for president.
“Well, I love my husband. I’m faithful to my husband,” Buttigieg said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
The openly gay Democratic presidential candidate added: “And I’m not going to take lectures on family values from the likes of Rush Limbaugh.”
Buttigieg responded similarly when asked about Limbaugh’s comments on “Fox News Sunday.”
“I’m proud of my husband,” he said. “And I’m not going to be lectured on family values from the likes of Rush Limbaugh or anybody who supports Donald J. Trump as the moral as well as political leader of the United States.”
Last week, Limbaugh drew bipartisan criticism when he suggested that America is “still not ready to elect a gay guy kissing his husband on the debate stage president.”
“They’re looking at Mayor Pete, 37-year-old gay guy, mayor of South Bend, loves to kiss his husband on the debate stage,” Limbaugh said. “And they’re saying, ‘OK, how’s this going to look, 37-year-old gay guy kissing his husband onstage next to Mr. Man Donald Trump? What’s going to happen there?’”
President Trump was among the Republicans who disagreed with Limbaugh’s assessment. Earlier this month, Trump awarded Limbaugh, who has a long history of inflammatory comments, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
“I love my husband. I’m faithful to my husband,” @petebuttigieg responds to conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh’s recent comments. “I’m not going to take lectures on family values from the likes of Rush Limbaugh.” #CNNSOTUhttps://t.co/bOje6TVl1s pic.twitter.com/icNbNMetlw
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) February 16, 2020
“I think so,” Trump told radio host Geraldo Rivera — who didn’t mention Limbaugh — when asked if Americans are ready to elect a gay man to be president. “I think there would be some that wouldn’t, but I wouldn’t be among that group, to be honest with you. … It doesn’t seem to be hurting Pete Buttigieg … very much.”
“There may be reasons not to vote for Mayor Buttigieg, but that’s not one of them. This is a tolerant country,” Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., told the Associated Press.
As far as kissing his husband on the debate stage, Buttigieg said Sunday on CNN:
“We usually just go for a hug. But I love him very much.”
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