Pete Buttigieg, Gay and Christian, Challenges Religious Right on Their Own Turf
The New York Times’s Jeremy W. Peters reports, “As a religious gay man who believes his party has ceded discussion of religion and spirituality to Republicans, Pete Buttigieg, a Democratic candidate for president, is talking about God and sexuality in an unconventional way: He is using the language of faith to confront the Christian right on territory they have long claimed as their own.” The South Bend, Indiana, mayor is an Episcopalian who has been criticized by religious conservatives for questioning the morality of Vice President Mike Pence, an evangelical Christian who opposes gay rights yet fails to address President Trump’s personal conduct. Jonathan Merritt, an evangelical author and speaker, said, “Mayor Pete could not have hoped to capture conservative Christian voters or moderate Christian voters at any point in modern American history — until now.”