Pete Buttigieg, secretary of transportation and gay dad, spoke to ABC Audio’s podcast Life Out Loud with LZ Granderson about starting his family, what parenthood is like for him, responding to criticism about his family, and more! Have a listen!
Secretary Buttigieg spoke with host LZ Granderson in a bonus episode of the show’s current season, which has been focused on queer families. He talked about false starts that he and his husband Chasten experienced in the adoption process—then becoming dads on 24 hours notice; the medical struggles their twins had when they were first born; being a parent in public life, and responding to negative remarks about his family from former Vice President Mike Pence, among others.
Mostly, though, he talked about parenthood, including some of the ways he and Chasten share duties, the physical challenge of bathing toddlers, being a working parent, the changes that parenthood brings, and what’s surprised him about being a dad. He is, unsurprisingly, as thoughtful about these issues as he is about much else. His words are worth listening to for parents of any identity.
About the attacks on his family, he said:
I think the best answer to a lot of these attacks and a lot of this meanness that’s out there is … to do everything you can to be a thriving family. The best answer to people out there who think we don’t even count as a real family is the love and the beauty of our family itself.
It’s a lovely thought, though I would caution folks not to interpret this as meaning we must be perfect. That’s a pressure neither we nor our kids need. Yet thriving doesn’t require perfection; sometimes, I believe, it even means the ability to go on when things do go wrong.
Listen here to one of our nation’s cabinet members talk about his queer family and “the unconditional and enormous love that binds us together.” Catch the whole, highly recommended season (and previous ones) of Life Out Loud at ABC Audio or wherever podcasts are found.
For even more recent coverage of Secretary Pete, check out Dawn Ennis’s interview with him for the Connecticut Voice, which not only covers parenting, but also his work as transportation secretary, LGBTQ rights more broadly, and more.