1:06
- ABC News
- February 20, 2020
Pete Buttigieg's husband responds to critics
Chasten Buttigieg spoke about life on the campaign trail and Rush Limbaugh.
It was his own experience that has shaped Chasten Buttigieg's work as an advocate for LGBTQ youth. Just this week he announced that he's visited close to 100 LGBTQ equality centers and homeless service providers, where he was able to share his story and listen to those of kids from all over the country,
Chasten Buttigieg says this election is not about policy. From homelessness to health care to the #MeToo movement, for him, it's personal.
Previously, Chasten Buttigieg has only briefly been able to talk about a time when he claims he was sexually assaulted as a teenager. He said that the person who took advantage of him was a friend of his friends and that he didn't think they'd believe him if he told them.
He told Davis that sharing a story like this \"requires you to be so vulnerable,\" and that when it happened to him, in a way he \"was terrified of feeling vulnerable and terrified of telling my friends and my family.\"
\"I was young. I was 18. And I remember somehow feeling like my parents would be so disappointed in me and I don't know what it was about society that made me feel somehow that I had done something wrong,\" Chasten Buttigieg said. \"And to feel such shame and guilt for somebody else taking advantage of me. And I'm so grateful for everyone who has spoken up because it made me feel less alone, too. As somebody who held on to that for a really long time, and unfortunately, that shaped me in a really negative way [with] trying to open up to love.\"
Chasten Buttigieg said he shared his story with his husband very early in their relationship. \"It was the first time I really felt like someone got it, and understood how difficult maybe a touch on the shoulder could be for somebody who had that experience,\" he said.
Through the ups and down of the campaign trail, and the amount of time away from each other, Chasten Buttigieg said his husband never lets him forget how loved he is.
\"He's really good at that. He is really good at taking the time to write out a little poem or a little letter, and he's also deeply reflective and he'll write a story that I'd completely forgotten about,\" Chasten Buttigieg said, giving an example. \"'Do you remember that time we sat at a cafe in Paris and watched the world go by? And I know it's crazy out there right now. But, you know, when you're far away and you're missing me, you think of that moment.'\"
Even if his husband doesn't go on to win the presidency in 2020, Chasten Buttigieg strongly believes that the campaign has made an impact nevertheless.
\"I obviously want [him] to be president,\" Chasten Buttigieg said. \"But if for some reason it doesn't work out, I will not for one moment hang my head in shame.\"
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