WASHINGTON — Pete Buttigieg was a teenager, not yet openly gay, and had dreams of being an airline pilot when he watched Republicans in the late 1990s deny a confirmation vote to President Bill Clinton’s choice for ambassador to Luxembourg because of his sexual orientation.
Senator Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi, the majority leader at the time, called homosexuality a sin and compared it with personal problems like alcoholism, kleptomania and sex addiction.
Blocked by his adversaries, Mr. Clinton used a recess appointment to send James Hormel, a San Francisco philanthropist and heir to a meatpacking fortune, overseas.