United States: Pete Buttigieg, openly homosexual first secretary of state, became a father

It was one of the revelations of the 2020 Democratic primaries in the United States. After a triumphant start and victory in Iowa, the 38-year-old candidate eventually stepped down to join future President of the United States Joe Biden. During his inauguration, Pete Buttigieg was appointed Minister of Transport, becoming the first openly gay Secretary of State in the history of American politics. This Tuesday, the former South Bend, medium-sized Indiana city, once again marked the spirits by publicly announcing his paternity on social networks. “For quite some time, Chasten and I have wanted to expand our family. We are delighted to announce that we have become parents! He wrote on Twitter.

“The process is not yet complete and we are grateful for the love, support and respect for our privacy that have been offered to us. We can’t wait to say more soon, ”added former rival Joe Biden.

An adoption journey strewn with pitfalls

“Having a child really shows that LGBT Americans are just like any other American family,” Elliot Imse, spokesperson for the Victory Institute, which advocates for LGBT people, told the Washington Post. in American government functions. Yet the year-long journey to adoption has seemed complicated. In an interview with the same newspaper a month ago, Pete Buttigieg’s husband said the couple had been trying to adopt for a year and had suffered several refusals. Chasten Buttigieg notably testified to an incident with a biological mother who had agreed to let them adopt her baby, before changing his mind a few hours later. “It’s a really weird cycle of anger and frustration and hope,” Chasten told the Washington Post. “You think it’s finally happening and you’re so excited, and then it just goes away.”

Married in 2018, parents three years later, Pete and Chasten Buttigieg will be able to found their family. A spokeswoman for the Secretary of State told the American daily that she did not yet know whether the minister and former soldier in Afghanistan would take paternity leave.