During a recent radio interview,
Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg suggested that the
LGBT media was responsible for stories questioning his gay
credibility.
Buttigieg made his comments while
speaking with Clay Cane on his Sirius XM show, Urban View.
(Related: During
third Democratic debate, Pete Buttigieg talked about coming out gay.)
“I'm sure you've heard this before in
LGBT circles, that more masculine-presenting men have more access,”
Cane stated. “How different would it be if you were 'more
effeminate?'”
“It's tough for me to know, right?
'Cause I just am what I am, and, you know, there's going to be a lot
of that,” answered Buttigieg, the openly gay mayor of South Bend,
Indiana.
“That's why I can't even read the
LGBT media. Because it's all he's too gay, not gay enough, wrong kind
of gay. Like geez, all right.”
“All I know is life became a lot
easier when I just started allowing myself to be myself and I'll let
other people write up whether I'm 'too this' or 'too that,'” he
added.
It's uncertain what stories Buttigieg
was referring to, but sites such as Vice and Slate –
which are not LGBT media – have posted stories criticizing
Buttigieg on his LGBT cred. The New Republic quickly took down
an op-ed penned by an openly gay literary critic who argued that
Buttigieg would make an ineffective leader because his later-in-life
coming out made him a “gay teenager” obsessed with sex and drugs.
(Related: New
Republic deletes homophobic op-ed about Pete Buttigieg.)