Buttigieg says he 'won't take lectures on family values' from Limbaugh

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

published 17 February 2020

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg on Sunday responded to conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, who recently said on his show that Americans aren't ready for a gay president. Buttigieg, the first openly gay presidential candidate, said on CNN he would not take "lectures on family values from the likes of Rush Limbaugh."

Limbaugh, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom during President Trump's State of the Union address, said voters would be turned off by seeing a "37-year-old gay guy kissing his husband on stage next to 'Mr. Man' Donald Trump." Buttigieg said: "Well, I love my husband [Chasten]. I'm faithful to my husband. On stage we usually just go for a hug. But I love him very much, and I'm not going take lectures on family values from the likes of Rush Limbaugh."

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.