Chasten Buttigieg has revealed that his brothers rejected him because of his sexuality.
Chasten Buttigieg, the husband of Pete Buttigieg who is aiming to become America’s first gay president, has revealed that he was rejected by his brothers because of his sexuality.
Speaking to the Washington Post, he revealed how during his youth he struggled with his sexuality, saying he was “scratching and itching and clawing to try to change whatever brain chemistry was making me the way I was.”
He said he was on the receiving end of homophobic slurs in school, even before he was out, and that although some of his friends accepted his sexuality, others did not.
And he revealed that his family did not have a positive reaction when he came out to them. “I remember my mom crying,” he recalled. “And the first thing she asked me was if I was sick. I think she meant, like, did I have AIDS?”
One of his brothers said that Chasten was “no brother of mine” and this prompted Chasten to leave home, and temporarily become homeless.
Eventually his mother called asking him to return home, and he later reconciled with his parents. They would go on to walk him down the aisle to marry Pete.
However, his relationship with his brothers has yet to fully recover, with one, Rhyan Glezman, who is a pastor at a church in Michigan saying: “I want the best for him. I just don’t support the gay lifestyle.”
Last month, Pete revealed that he met Chasten on a dating app. Asked what attracted him to Chasten, Pete said: “It’s a very millennial thing, but I met him through this app called Hinge. As soon as I saw his picture, there was just something in his eyes, and I was like, ‘I gotta meet this guy’. And then I did.
“I was just trying to keep up with him, and what I’ve found is that I’m still trying to keep up with him in a lot of ways.”
Pete also gushed that his partner is “one of the best things” in his life, explaining how Chasten has adjusted very well to the increase in attention since he announced his candidacy for US president in 2020.
“He’s pretty good at rolling with it, and I’m lucky for that. Frankly, he’s one of the best things I’ve got going for me. I love him. He’s grounded. He keeps me grounded,” he said.
“He was really alive to the ways we could use our visibility to help people, to make people feel better, just by showing up to their events, that sort of thing. And he’s taking that same attitude on the trail.
“[But] he definitely got more than he bargained for, he sometimes reminds me about our first date, we were not talking about this being in our future!”
Related: Pete Buttigieg addresses white male privilege during Trevor Noah interview
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