Buttigieg: It's 'Almost Certain' We've Already Had Gay Presidents

Leah Barkoukis | June 17, 2019 8:07 AM

South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg said if he were elected he would probably not be the first gay president.

In an interview with “Axios on HBO,” the Democratic candidate said that “we’ve probably had excellent presidents who were gay—we just didn’t know which ones.”

The comment came in response to a question about the potential for his sexuality to be attacked by opponents.

“People will elect the person who will make the best president,” the mayor said. “And we have had excellent presidents who have been young. We have had excellent presidents who have been liberal,” noting some were probably gay, too.

Host Mike Allen then asked if he believed “we've had a gay commander-in-chief.”

“I mean, statistically it's almost certain,” Buttigieg responded, but he declined to speculate on which president may have been a homosexual.

“My gaydar doesn't even work that well in the present, let alone retroactively,” he said.

Democrat presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg: "I would imagine we've probably had excellent presidents who were gay, we just didn't know which ones"

When asked which presidents he thinks were gay, he responds: "My gaydar doesn't even work that well"pic.twitter.com/34y8edyIO4
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) June 16, 2019