In a yet-to-be-aired interview with Fox
News, President Donald Trump was asked about Democratic presidential
hopeful Pete Buttigieg campaigning with his husband Chasten.
Trump answered that he thought it was
“great” but added that “some people will have a problem with”
Buttigieg's sexuality.
Buttigieg, the openly gay mayor of
South Bend, Indiana, is polling in third place among Democratic
candidates behind former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Senator
Bernie Sanders. The Buttigiegs were recently featured on the cover of
TIME.
(Related: Pete
Buttigieg, husband Chasten cover TIME magazine.)
Steve Hilton, host of The Next
Revolution, asked whether “it's great the fact that you've got
a guy there on the stage with his husband, and it's normal,” Trump
answered: “I think it's absolutely fine.”
Hilton followed up by asking whether
Buttigieg's candidacy represents “great progress in the country.”
“Yeah, I think it's great,” Trump
answered.
“I think that's something perhaps
some people will have a problem with. I have no problem with it
whatsoever. I think it's good,” he added.
LGBT rights advocate GLAAD responded in
a tweet, saying that those “some people” were part of the
president's base.
“Trump says that 'some people' will
have a problem with seeing Mayor Pete Buttigieg and his husband on a
debate stage, but he's fine with it,” GLAAD messaged. “Those
'some people' are the anti-LGBTQ activists at groups like @Heritage
and @FRCdc that he's been buddying up to since he took office.”
Gregory T. Angelo, the former president
of Log Cabin Republicans, a group that represents LGBT conservatives,
applauded Trump's remark, saying it proves he “continues to be the
most pro-gay Republican President ever!”