Pete Buttigieg: 'I'm Not out to Be President of Gay America'

Mayor Pete Buttigieg addressed his homosexuality on Friday, as he continued his campaign for president.

“I’m not out to be president of gay America, I’m out to be president of the United States of America,” he said. “But it’s part of who I am.”

The South Bend mayor discussed his sexuality in an interview with hip-hop radio show, “The Breakfast Club” in New York City.

Buttigieg said it was important to have conversations about his gay identity, but specified he did not want it to be the only conversation about his campaign.

“The fact that I belong to a group that has been impacted by hate does affect the way I understand the world,” he said. Buttigieg said he viewed himself as being in a “marriage” with his husband just like anyone else, not just a “gay marriage.”

As a married couple in South Bend Indiana, he explained he and his husband Chasten discussed how to present themselves to the public.

“We found that we could just act like any other couple, invite other people to treat us that way, and for the most part they did,” he said. “We weren’t blind to the fact that it was a big deal for other people.”

He said that it was important for Americans to have conversations about gay relationships and gay identities.

“We can’t pretend that this isn’t a thing, it’s just to make sure we have a way of going through life to where it’s not the only thing,” he said.

Buttigieg criticized people like comedian Kevin Hart who told gay singer Lil Nas X that it did not matter to him that he was gay.

“I will say that I think a lot of gay people hear that and hear something that might not be that different than what some folks here when they hear somebody say that I don’t see color,” he said.