The three highest-ranking queer parents in the Biden administration have shared thoughts with the media about their accomplishments, what remains to be done, and moving on, so I’ve rounded them up for you. (Plus: Did you know there are kids’ books about two of them?)
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg spoke with Politico about implementing President Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure law, seeing progress at the state and local level with infrastructure projects, America’s transportation system, making up for lost time with his family, and more.
When asked what he wants to tell his children about his tenure when they’re older, he said, “I’ll be able to tell them that all of the travel and all of the long days and all the days that I was away were for better infrastructure that they’re going to get to use.” In the future, he said, he wants to be able to point to things on their family travel and say, “I worked on that, and that’s one of the reasons why I was working so hard back when you were really little and we were getting to know each other.”
He also spoke with NPR about infrastructure spending, the connections between social justice and transportation, and whether the Internet is helpful or harmful for government and public policy. (Ever nuanced, he thinks “it has cut both ways.”)
Buttigieg was sworn in as Treasury secretary in February 2021 after running for president himself the previous year. Before that, he was mayor of South Bend, Indiana and served as an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve. He became the father of twins with his husband Chasten in August, 2021.
If you’d like your kids to know more about him, check out the picture book Mayor Pete: The Story of Pete Buttigieg, by Rob Sanders, illustrated by Levi Hastings (Henry Holt).
Admiral Rachel Levine, assistant secretary of health, spoke with Politico about leading the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, the future of public health in our country, and being the target of Republican anti-trans rhetoric. About the last, she said:
I’m a strong and resilient person, I’ll be fine. What I worry about are other members of our community. I worry about those young people. I worry about their families, and I worry about the doctors that treat them. I worry about adults as well in the LGBTQI+ community, broadly, as well as specifically in the transgender and non-binary community.
She now plans to go home to Central Pennsylvania, rest, and “then I’m going to consider what my next steps are.”
A recent interview with NPR spoke of her having “a friendly, low-key personality and a pragmatic sensibility,” with an enthusiasm for vaccines and other public health measures. Despite the politically motivated attacks on the trans community, “She chooses to be optimistic that things will get better for trans people in the U.S.”
Levine, a physician, in 2021 became the first openly transgender person to be confirmed by the Senate and the country’s highest-ranking transgender official. Prior to that, she served as secretary of health for Pennsylvania and led the state’s public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She has two grown children.
If you’d like your kids to know more about her, check out the chapter book She Persisted: Rachel Levine, by Lisa Bunker, illustrated by Gillian Flint (Philomel).
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre gave her last briefing to the White House press corps a week ago. She took time during the briefing to reflect on the position as “the honor of a lifetime” and spoke of her role in upholding President Biden’s vision of a strong free press, and of the “give and take” between her and reporters that is an “incredibly healthy” part of our democracy.
Jean-Pierre was the first Black person and first out LGBTQ person in her role, but observed, “While I may be the first for many things at this podium, behind this lectern, I am not the last.” She added:
I hope my presence at this podium has served as inspiration to many young girls out there who look at me and look at this job, and look at what we’ve been able to do, and have a similar background as me, and hopefully they can follow their dreams and never give up, and know that you can achieve great things.
She thanked her parents, both immigrants, who “worked day and night to give me every opportunity possible.” She also told her daughter, “You have gone too many nights without me being around … and I can’t wait to spend more time with you.”
Jean-Pierre was named to her position by President Biden in 2022. She was a veteran political organizer, commentator, and author who had served as senior advisor to Joe Biden and chief of staff to Kamala Harris during the 2020 campaign, and became White House principal deputy press secretary in 2020. She and her former partner, CNN national correspondent Suzanne Malveaux, have one daughter, whom they are co-parenting.
In a long essay for Vanity Fair yesterday, Jean-Pierre also spoke about balancing her private life (including her mother’s serious illness) and her very public job, observing, “Society doesn’t allow women of color to be vulnerable at work. When you’re a first, you don’t get the benefit of the doubt.” It’s a thoughtful piece that’s well worth a read.
Thanks to Jean-Pierre, Levine, and Buttigieg for their countless hours of service to all the people in our country and for giving us queer parents models of what it is possible to achieve (even if not all of us aim that high).
