Chasten Buttigieg (photo: Nelson Castillo)Chasten Buttigieg, husband of U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, covers the May/June 2023 issue of The Advocate.
The extensive cover story provides an intimate look at Chasten’s life, family, and the journey leading up to his new book, I Have Something to Tell You – For Young Adults, available today.
Readers are offered an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Chasten’s life and his growing role as an influential LGBTQ+ advocate.
Select quotes from Chasten’s interview with The Advocate:
On Mike Pence, cyberbullies, and the person who spit in his face at a campaign event:
“I’d grown up with bullies my entire life. I knew how it felt when someone knocked me down a peg and how their meanness and name-calling could bring a cloudy end to an otherwise sunny day.
“The thing was, I wasn’t that scared little kid on the back of the bus anymore. I didn’t worry about what other people thought about me the way I had in seventh-grade geography class.”
“In D.C., there’s a mentality I’ve tried to put myself in, when people try to say or do something hurtful, it’s a gift. Now I’ve learned something about you. And then I can respond or react accordingly.”
(photo: Nelson Castillo)On the responsibility he feels as the spouse of an LGBTQ+ politician:
“Being half of a very prominent gay couple in this country that has the opportunity to shape the dialogue around LGBTQ rights is not lost on me. While this is not what I thought I was going to do when I grew up, I am certainly trying to find the right way to use that platform to do good.”
On being a public figure:
“There’s also the possibility that someone is following you, which has happened. Someone is recording you, taking pictures of you, eavesdropping…the sneaky iPhone photos still throw me. I will be doing something so mundane and ridiculous and I will see someone taking a photo. Why do you want a photo of me eating Chipotle?”
Related: Chasten Buttigieg Makes A Splash At HRC Dinner
On the Republican party’s twisted priorities:
“Hate is so much easier than work. Some Republicans have decided that focusing on very vulnerable people, including very vulnerable youth, is worth more to them in clicks and attention and donations than it is solving any of the issues that actually face the American people and those [LGBTQ+] youth.
“Rather than talk about arts, mental health education, any of the inequities we see in public education, we see people rallying around making vulnerable kids the focus and the enemy. That is very, very dangerous.”
You can find Chasten’s new book, I Have Something To Tell You, on Amazon here.
