Gay Indiana mayor joins crowded field to lead national Democrats

[DonViejo]

Source: Associated Press



By TOM DAVIES, Associated Press · Friday, January 6, 2017

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A little-known mayor from Indiana on Thursday joined a crowded field of candidates seeking to become the next head of the Democratic National Committee.

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is barely known outside northern Indiana, but he brings a distinctive resume to the campaign as a Rhodes scholar who served a seven-month deployment in Afghanistan in 2014 as a Naval Reserve officer. He gained attention last year when he announced he was gay in a newspaper column, five months before he won election to a second term with 80 percent of the vote.

Buttigieg (pronounced BOO’-tah-juhj) is casting himself as an outsider in the chairman’s race, which includes Labor Secretary Tom Perez and Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison among five other candidates.

Buttigieg, 34, said he believes the DNC needs fresh leadership and a greater focus on state and local parties after many years of election losses at those levels. “Traditionally, that’s been a strength of the Democratic Party, but we need to get back to that,” he said.

Read more: http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2017/01/gay-indiana-mayor-joins-crowded-field-lead-national-democrats/

[Coolest Ranger]

2. Okay

so I read the article, where does it say he is a Conservative Scientologist?

[oberliner]

8. The source is LGBTQ Nation

Which is probably where the title comes from. Other outlets with the same AP story do not include the sexual orientation in the title.

[DonViejo]

14. The link is to LGBTQ Nation, where the story is published, you think they would

use a homophobic headline?

[Coolest Ranger]

10. and I'm gay myself

so again, what the heck is wrong with this?

[Coolest Ranger]

11. Then why did you not

say that instead of calling him a Scientologist

[TexasTowelie]

4. See this thread for the video of his announcement

and additional background:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028436846

[OnlinePoker]

5. I read the title as "Gary Indiana mayor..."

First thing I thought about was The Music Man.

[oberliner]

7. Karen Freeman-Wilson is the mayor of Gary, Indiana

If that's who you were thinking of.

[OnlinePoker]

18. No, the only thing I know about Gary, Indiana is the song from "The Music Man"

When I saw the word Gay, my mind added the r.

[oberliner]

6. Is there a reason why his sexual orientation is relevant?

Just curious.

[geek tragedy]

15. winning on the local level in Indiana despite being the subject of the deplorables' bigotry

shows he may know a thing or two about how to sell the Democratic party in such places.

[oberliner]

19. That makes sense

Good point.

[DonViejo]

16. You don't know why members of the LGBT Community "outs" themselves? Really?

[oberliner]

20. Huh?

I was just wondering how his being gay is relevant vis-a-vis his efforts to become DNC chair.

[DonViejo]

21. Wow. Okay, if you say so.

[LittleGirl]

12. he's done a good job

in my home town. I don't live there anymore but it's doing pretty good. There have been issues in South Bend for decades and if the University of Notre Dame wasn't there, that town wouldn't even exist. I'd vote for him.

[KittyWampus]

17. He was on MSNBC last night. He was in the military and has some background in intelligence...

He comes across well on tv.