Democratic presidential hopeful Pete
Buttigieg has responded to conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh's
homophobic comments.
Limbaugh made his remarks just days
after President Donald Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of
Freedom during his State of the Union address to Congress and
Buttigieg's strong showings in Iowa and New Hampshire.
During his radio program, Limbaugh
mocked Buttigieg's sexuality, calling him “Booty-judge” and
describing him as “a gay guy” who “loves kissing his husband on
debate stages.”
“Can you see Trump have fun with
that?” Limbaugh told his radio listeners.
Appearing on CNN's State of the
Union, Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, was
asked to respond.
“Well, I love my husband,”
Buttigieg told Dana Bash. “I'm faithful to my husband. On stage, we
usually just go for a hug, but I love him very much.”
“And I'm not going to take lectures
on family values from the likes of Rush Limbaugh,” he added, a
possible reference to Limbaugh's four marriages.
Buttigieg expanded on his answer during
an appearance on Fox News Sunday.
“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,” Buttigieg said.
“America has moved on, and we should
have politics of belonging that welcomes everybody. That's what the
American people are for. And I am saddened for what the Republican
Party has become if they embrace that kind of homophobic rhetoric,”
he added.
(Related: Pete
Buttigieg's being gay makes him “deserving of death,” Christian
conservative says.)