Topline
Chasten Buttigieg, husband to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, pushed back against former Vice President Mike Pence on Monday for mocking his husband’s 2021 parental leave stint, after a White House spokesperson called the remarks “homophobic.”
US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and husband Chasten Buttigieg arrive for the 45th Kennedy … [+]
Key Facts
At Saturday’s annual Gridiron Club Dinner of politicians and journalists, Pence reportedly linked Pete Buttigieg’s parental leave to national travel issues, and said Buttigieg “is the only person in human history to have a child and everyone else gets postpartum depression.”
Pete Buttigieg was on parental leave for four weeks beginning in August 2021, after the premature birth of his twin children, but during that time—which was marked by severe supply chain problems—he said he was “available 24/7 on issues that can’t wait.”
By Monday, many Democrats pushed back at the former vice president’s remarks, including Chasten Buttigieg, who took to Instagram and said in part, “If your grandchild was born prematurely and placed on a ventilator at two months old—their tiny fingers wrapped around yours as the monitors beep in the background—where would you be?”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre called on the vice president to apologize for his “homophobic” and “offensive” remarks and said he “treated women suffering from postpartum depression as a punchline.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre called on the vice president to apologize for his “homophobic” and “offensive” remarks and said he “treated women suffering from postpartum depression as a punchline.”
Tangent
Pete Buttigieg was not the only one Pence criticized Saturday. The former vice president also reportedly used the dais for his most scathing criticism to date of former President Donald Trump’s role in the attack on the capitol. Pence said Trump was wrong to ask him to overturn his 2020 election loss before the January 6 riot: “His reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day, and I know that history will hold Donald Trump accountable.”
Key Background
Neither the White House nor the Transportation Department announced Pete Buttigieg’s parental leave stint publicly in 2021. It wasn’t until Politico described Buttigieg as “MIA” in a mid-October newsletter that the news of his leave became public. That’s when Republicans first began using Pete Buttigieg’s parental leave as a talking point. When Pete Buttigieg returned to work in October 2021, Fox News host Tucker Carlson said Pete Buttigieg was “trying to figure out how to breastfeed.” Meanwhile, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) accused Buttigieg of being “absent during a transportation crisis that is hurting working-class Americans.” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) was also critical of the secretary’s handling of the transportation crisis and took to Twitter to claim the White House was hiding Pete Buttigieg’s paid leave, tweeting, “Why did we just learn of this?” Since then, Buttigieg has become a target of Republican attacks on issues from the massive flight cancellations during the holiday to the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment.
Further Reading
Jean-Pierre Calls For Pence To Apologize For Buttigieg, Postpartum Depression Jokes (The Hill)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/03/13/where-would-you-be-pete-buttigiegs-husband-criticizes-pence-for-mocking-paternity-leave/