Chasten Buttigieg attacks Mike Pence’s lunch with openly gay Irish leader

Chasten Buttigieg attacked Mike Pence’s lunch with an openly-gay Irish leader, saying just because the two shared meal doesn’t mean the vice president is ‘any less homophobic.’

Buttigieg, the husband of Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg, criticized a tweet on Monday from deputy White House press secretary Judd Deere, who wrote anyone who thinks Pence is ‘anti-gay’ should look at his lunch with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and his partner.

‘I’ve sat at tables with people who would gladly deny me the right to marry, who openly support conversion therapy, and who adamantly believe being gay is a choice. Doesn’t mean they’re any less homophobic because we shared a meal,’ Buttigieg wrote.

Chasten Buttigieg attacked Mike Pence’s lunch with an openly-gay Irish leader, saying it doesn’t make the vice president ‘less homophobic’ 

Vice President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence have lunch with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and his partner Matthew Barrett

Both Buttigiegs have been critical of Pence, who is the former governor of their home state of Indiana, and the anti-gay policies put in place under his administration.

The vice president has been criticized for being anti-gay and has a record of voting against LGBTQ rights. As governor, he signed legislation that made it legal for businesses to cite religious freedom when refusing services to gay people. Pence has fought reports that he supports ‘conversion therapy,’ which his staff says he does not.

Deere tweeted out Pence’s schedule for his trip to Ireland this week and noted the sit down the vice president and Karen Pence were having with Varadkar and his partner Matthew Barrett. 

‘For all of you who still think our @VP is anti-gay, I point you to his and the @SecondLady’s schedule tomorrow where they will join Taoiseach @LeoVaradkar and his partner Dr. Matthew Barrett for lunch in Ireland,’ Deere wrote.

The Pences joined Varadkar and Barrett plus other officials for lunch Tuesday afternoon at Farmleigh House in Dublin.

The vice president is on a two-day trip to Ireland. 

Varadkar is one of a few openly gay world leaders.  

It’s not the first time Pence sat down with Varadkar and Barrett. 

The vice president hosted the couple in Washington D.C. in March ahead of St. Patrick’s Day.

‘Vice President Mike Pence invited me and Matt to his home at the Naval Observatory this morning. It’s great to be back here for a really warm reception,’ Varadkar tweeted in March.  

Barrett is a cardiologist based in Dublin. He and Varadkar have been a couple since 2015. 

Chastan Buttigieg is married to Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg

Buttigieg was responding to a tweet from deputy White House press secretary Judd Deere

Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen met with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (second from left) and his partner Matthew Barrett (left) during their two-day visit to Ireland

Homosexuality in Ireland was decriminalized in 1993. In 2015, Ireland voted by referendum to legalize gay marriage, becoming the first country in the world to do so by popular vote. 

Pete Buttigieg, the first openly-gay major presidential candidate, has criticized Pence, who served as Indiana governor while Buttigieg is mayor of South Bend.

Pence opposed gay marriage as governor.

Pete Buttigieg married Chasten Glezman on June 16, 2018 in South Bend. 

Buttigieg came out as gay during his June 2015 mayoral re-election campaign, which he went on to win with 78 percent of the vote.  

‘If me being gay was a choice it was a choice made far, far above my pay grade,’ the presidential candidate told an LGBTQ Victory Fund event in Washington D.C. in April.

‘And that’s the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand. That if you have a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator,’ he added.

Buttigieg has talked about his personal struggle with his sexuality but said the pain of his teen years gave way to joy later in his life. 

Mike Pence hosted Varadkar and Barrett at the vice presidential residence in March

‘My marriage to Chasten has made me a better man and, yes, Mr. Vice President, it has moved me closer to God,’ he added. 

Pence responded by saying the mayor ‘knows better’ than to criticize his faith and charging him with trying to win points with progressives.

‘He said some things that are critical of my Christian faith and about me personally. And he knows better. He knows me,’ Pence told CNBC in April.

Pence said that as governor, he ‘worked very closely with Mayor Pete’ and that they ‘had a great working relationship.’ 

He pointed out as governor of the state he implemented the Supreme Court’s decision that made gay marriage legal. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk