'I don't want a gay president just because he's gay.'
Last year, my mom sent me a text message. Have you heard of Mayor Pete Buttigieg?, it read. Of course I have, I answered. I had been working in queer media for at least two years at the time; it would have been nearly impossible for me to be unaware of this enigmatic politician: an openly gay, married, two-term mayor from South Bend, Indiana who, in a move that would serve as a shock to the political system as we know it, managed to mount a bonafide campaign for the 2020 presidency.
Still, the most troubling aspect of Buttigieg's campaign was the idea that this particular gay man — a 38-year-old, white, upper middle class-raised, Ivy League-educated, Rhodes Scholarship-wielding, married man — didn't necessarily feel like the gay man we need in the White House right now. An overwhelming, underlying sense that Mayor Pete was not a true, adequate representation of the greater LGBTQ+ population tainted his campaign for many.
Admittedly, I didn't necessarily agree with Peck's piece. An air of arrogance ran throughout, particularly in regard to the anecdote that framed the entire thing, which finds Peck reflecting on an exchange he once shared with a buttoned-up gay man who he ultimately told,"Take a good look at yourself and your world, reject everything in it, and then get back to me.
This meme, in particular, began to circulate everywhere again on Sunday night, when the candidate spontaneously dropped out of the race after slowly losing momentum in the preliminary caucuses. For many, it was a cause for celebration.
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