During Thursday's third Democratic
presidential debate, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg talked
about his coming out gay story.
The candidates were asked to discuss a
time of personal setback in their lives.
Buttigieg publicly came out gay in 2015
and married last year.
“I came back from the [Navy Reserves]
deployment and realized that you only get to live one life, and I was
not interested in not knowing what it was like to be in love any
longer, so I just came out,” Buttigieg said.
“I had to wonder if just
acknowledging who I was was gonna be the ultimate, career-ending
political setback.”
Instead, Buttigieg was re-elected by a
wide margin.
“What I learned was that … part of
how you can win and deserve to win is to know what's worth more to
you than winning,” he said.
The moment was historic as many
commenters online pointed out.
“This would have been unfathomable
just a few years ago,” messaged a user on Twitter.