As Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race last week, Kamala Harris’ announcement that she will be running for president was met with a mostly united left cheering her on. Speculation immediately commenced about who will be Harris’ pick for VP. Many candidates were considered in online discourse including Pete Buttigieg. I was surprised and disheartened to hear how quickly Pete was dismissed as a viable candidate solely because he is gay. In seemingly everyone’s opinion online, Buttigieg is the perfect candidate on paper: he’s wicked smart and wholly qualified. But – and it’s a really big BUTT – he’s gay. The online opinionators swiftly concluded that America is just not ready for a gay vice president. Especially with all the “-isms” that Kamala faces herself as the presidential nominee.

I believe the rapid dismissal of Buttigieg by the left to be rooted in homophobia. A homophobia that I was flummoxed to see rearing its ugly head. It was another discouraging reminder that people will always see a gay person as gay first, then whatever other qualifications they bring to the table.

When someone says that Pete is not a good pick for Vice President, they are giving credence to all the attacks that will surely be thrown at Pete. That he’s unfit simply because he’s gay. You have to think about who Kamala and Pete would be running against – a man who has children by three different women and 34 felony convictions. When you say that Pete is unfit as a VP candidate, what I hear is you equating, or even considering more vile, someone who is gay to former President Trump. Trump has allegedly sexually assaulted women and children. He has openly admitted to grabbing women by the pussy. And it breaks my heart to hear that a good family man like Buttigieg, who loves his husband and children and is faithful to them, and an overall morally good human, is considered worse to the American public than Donald Trump.

Democrats are the party responsible for federal protections against losing your job because you’re LGBTQ+. However, it’s clear that the same standards do not apply when we are considering the highest level of office.