Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg slammed Florida’s new “Don’t Say Gay” law, signed this week by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Buttigieg, the first openly gay man who has served in a presidential Cabinet and who together with his husband, Chasten Buttigieg, adopted twin infants last summer, explained that the new law banning any discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity in some elementary school grades ends up “hurting kids.” “Look, bottom line, it’s hurting kids,” Buttigieg said about the Florida law. “I think about what life might be like for our kids when they start school.
If they were in a place like Florida, it might stop them from mentioning they had a great time over the weekend with their dads.” DeSantis has promoted the new law as a means of combating a “woke gender ideology” about sexual orientation that is being foisted upon young schoolchildren by leftist activists.
Buttigieg, without mentioning DeSantis by name, criticized political figures on the right for pushing such legislation describing them as a calculated diversion from more pressing matters. “This is part of a very familiar political playbook,” he said. “And I think the reason that this playbook is being pulled off the shelf is you have a lot of folks who don’t have actual plans for the things that are affecting so much of everyday life. “They’re looking for somebody to target, to change the subject to these culture wars.