SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg has come out as gay in a newspaper editorial.
The first-term Democratic mayor says in the personal essay published Tuesday in the South Bend Tribune that he was well into adulthood before he was prepared to acknowledge that he’s gay.
The 33-year-old says it took him “years of struggle and growth” to recognize that his sexuality is “just a fact of life, like having brown hair.”
Buttigieg is seeking re-election this year in the city that’s home to the conservative University of Notre Dame. The Navy reservist says his sexuality makes him “no better or worse at handling a spreadsheet, a rifle, a committee meeting, or a hiring decision.”
