A real estate broker who hurled
homophobia online at Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and
his husband Chasten has lost his job.
The Buttigiegs, who married in 2018,
announced in September the arrival of their first two children,
daughter Penelope Rose and son Joseph August.
(Related: Pete
Buttigieg calls parenthood “wonderful.”)
Over the holidays, they posted a
photograph of themselves holding their children in a Christmas
setting at the White House.
“2021 brought with it many
challenges, but it also gave us a lot to be grateful for.” Chasten
Buttigieg wrote in posting the photo on his Instagram account.
“#HappyNewYear, friends. Here's to a peaceful and joyful 2022!”
Buttigieg posted a screenshot of a
comment to his Instagram Stories, noting the user's place of
employment.
“Someone gave these [censored]
kids??? Holy [censored],” Andre Kravchenko wrote. Buttigieg
censored the comment.
"In the year 2022, you'd think
these people would be wise enough to post their homophobia from an
alt account, not one easily connected to their job," Buttigieg
captioned the screenshot. "Rather embarrassing for
@AmericanHomes4Rent, a company that claims to be an equal housing
provider and one that's 'building a culture of inclusion and
belonging.' I worry for your tenants.”
Followers took notice and called out
Kravchenko's comments on American Homes 4 Rent's Instagram account,
LGBTQ
glossy The
Advocate
first reported. American Homes 4 Rent later said that Kravchenko
had not been an employee for over five years and called the comment
“offensive.”
In a follow-up post, Buttigieg posted a
screenshot from a comment left by Skyline Properties in Seattle,
Washington, where Kravchenko is listed as an independent broker.
Scott Hotes, who is listed as a vice
president at Skyline, wrote: “To all who are posting. Skyline could
not possibly know what 1,200 of our independent contractors could be
doing at any given moment. There is no way on gods [sic] green earth
that you, me air [sic] anyone else could know in advance what someone
might think or post. Now that I am aware of the post, I will have a
conversation with the broker.”
“This defensive response tells us
exactly how that 'conversation' is going to go,” Buttigieg wrote in
the caption.
On Wednesday, Skyline Properties
announce that Kravchenko was no longer employed by the company.
"After spending time to properly
review the comments made by this individual, we have found that this
was not some fluke, mistake, or hacking situation, and have promptly
FIRED him from Skyline Properties," the company wrote on its
official Instagram. "That being said, we would like to sincerely
apologize to the Buttigieg family and the LGBTQ+ community for any
harm that came from the bigotry of this individual. We do not
tolerate ANY hate speech of any kind, nor do we have a place for ANY
brokers who participate in such hateful behaviors."
On his professional Facebook page,
Hotes revealed that he is the “proud father” of “a 27 year old
non-binary/queer child” and that he has previously dealt with “this
type of bigotry.”