Open Letter: Queers Against Pete Buttigieg's Candidacy For President

Members of the LGBTQIA have come forward to challenge Buttigieg candidacy for President due to his lack of standing up for his own LGBTQIA community.

By H. Nelson Goodson 

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

February 8, 2020

South Bend, Indiana -  Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a Presidential candidate for the Democratic nomination for U.S. President is facing a LGBTQIA movement 'Qeers Against Pete' for his lack to address certain issues affecting the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Asexual (LGBTQIA) community in South Bend. Buttigieg is openly Gay and is married to his male partner.

As the Mayor of South Bend, Buttigieg failed to address issues affecting the LGBTQIA community and members have launched a campaign labeled 'Queers Against Pete', and have released an open letter explaining their opposition to Buttigieg's candidacy for President.
In 2010, Buttigieg ran an unsuccessful campaign for Indiana State Treasurer and also spoked at a Teaparty event, which drew a backlash from constituents.
Also another group in Facebook against Buttigieg, which has more than 17,000 members claim that he is an imperialist, corporate puppet and should have run as a Republican for President due to his policy stands.

Queers Against Pete Open Letter:

Dear fellow members of the LGBTQIA community,

This election cycle we will be presented with plenty of options. Up and down the ballot, candidate's stances will impact us, our families and communities. If we've learned anything from our ancestors and transcestors, it's that we must speak out…and act up. This primary election is one such example. 

There has been much talk about identity and diversity in the race to win the Democratic party nomination for president. Some have touted former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg's openly gay identity as proof of progress in our politics. However, being gay is not enough to earn the support of LGBTQIA communities. 

We cannot in good conscience allow Mayor Pete to become the nominee without demanding that he address the needs and concerns of the broader Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual (LGBTQIA) communities. While many see different issues in silos, we are clear that LGBTQIA people are directly and disproportionately impacted by police violence, incarceration, unaffordable healthcare, homelessness, deportation, and economic inequality among other things. 

Mayor Pete is leaning on the support and actively courting the LGBTQIA community, but has shown time and time again that he is out of touch, not fit to be President of the United States, and simply falls short. 

• Mayor Pete opposes free universal free public college and does not support cancelling student loan debt; 

• Mayor Pete has no plan to restore the right to vote for all formerly and currently incarcerated people, create an alternative to police, or end cash bail; 

• Mayor Pete has not addressed the concerns related to Eric Logan, a Black South Bend resident who was shot and killed by a white police officer. Furthermore, while in office, Mayor Pete refused to release the police tapes relating to the demotion of Darryl Boykins, the first Black person to serve as police chief. We echo the demands of Black Lives Matter - South Bend to create a Citizens Review Board and for the release of the tapes; 

• Mayor Pete has not said if he would support a moratorium to end deportations or that he would decriminalize border crossing; 

• Mayor Pete opposes complete Medicare for All and universal childcare;

• During his tenure, Mayor Pete demolished homes of many South Bend residents who were unable to afford repairs and drastically ramped up unfair fines;

• Mayor Pete does not support boycotting for political reasons;

• Mayor Pete has no plan to cap credit card interest rates or guarantee a job to everyone who needs one; and 

• Mayor Pete supports the increase of defense spending which is already 50% of the federal budget.

These gaps in Mayor Pete's platform will fall particularly hard on LGBTQIA communities. Take housing as an example: 40 percent of homeless youth are LGBTQIA. Nearly one-third of trans people have experienced homelessness, and one in ten have been evicted from their home for being trans. This is only exacerbated by the fact that there is no federal law that consistently protects LGBTQIA individuals from housing discrimination. And while Mayor Pete, like the rest of the field, supports the Equality Act, this isn't enough. Public housing remains in disrepair in the U.S., with billions in backlogged repairs due to decades of underinvestment, and the changes Pete proposes are grossly inadequate relative to the scale of the problem, and will not solve our housing crisis. We need only look to Pete's track record of tearing down hundreds of homes in Black and Latino neighborhoods in South Bend to show us that he is not committed to protecting our communities.

As LGBTQIA people our lives are layered and must have an intersectional framework in our analysis, organizing, and movement building. We know that: Education justice is LGBTQIA justice. Racial and economic justice are LGBTQIA justice. Decarceration is LGBTQIA justice. Immigrant and refugee justice is LGBTQIA justice. Health justice is LGBTQIA justice. Housing justice is LGBTQIA justice. Demanding corporate accountability and for wealthy people to pay an equitable share of taxes is LGBTQIA justice. 

During this critical election, it's important that LGBTQIA people demand more from our leaders and from a candidate claiming to be in community with us. Leaders within our communities -- especially Black trans women --  have worked tirelessly over the past two decades to push LGBTQIA movements to value and fight for our full identities and experiences. We cannot afford to go backwards or accept the status quo. 

It is for these reasons and more that a group of us have come together under the banner of #QueersAgainstPete. If you agree, we invite you to add your name to this letter and join our collective voice against Pete Buttigieg's candidacy for president. We believe the LGBTQIA community deserves better than Pete.

On February 3, 2020, Pete Buttigieg came second on the Iowa Caucus elections while Bernie Sanders declared victory and won the popular vote with more than 6,000 votes than any other candidate and also won the final realignment Caucus vote with 2,500 votes.