Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg directly addressed Vice President Mike Pence in a speech Sunday, saying his marriage to Chasten Glezman made him a better man and moved him closer to God.
What he's saying: Buttigieg told the LGBTQ Victory Fund event the message that being gay is wrong puts people at war with themselves and their maker. "That’s the thing that I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand," the South Bend, Indiana, mayor said. "That if you have a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator."
The big picture: Pence has described himself as a "Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order and previously voiced his opposition to same-sex marriage. Buttigieg would be the first openly gay U.S. president if elected in 2020.
Details: At the annual LGBTQ Victory Fund event, Buttigieg described his coming to terms with being gay as "a kind of war." "If you could have offered me a pill that could make me straight, I would have swallowed it," he said, adding if he could've determined what made him gay, he would've cut it with a knife. "... Thank God there was no pill. Thank God there was no knife," he said.
- Navy veteran Buttigieg also criticized the Trump administration's moves against transgender people in the military, noting President Trump had not served during the Vietnam War.
Go deeper: Pete Buttigieg: Everything you need to know about the 2020 candidate
