Tucker Carlson Outs Pete Buttigieg... As Not Gay

There has been no more prominent queer politician in the last five years than Pete Buttigieg. The Navy veteran (who served in Afghanistan) and former mayor of South Bend, Indiana came into prominence when he ran for president in 2020. He was one of the first out candidates to run for office and surprised many by winning the Iowa caucuses and finishing second in New Hampshire. But he withdrew his bid and endorsed now President Joe Biden on March 1. Once elected, Biden made him Secretary of Transportation, where has re-organized the department's internal structure, overturned some Trump era policies, and was responsible for implementing Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

But while Republicans criticized his policies, it was his personal life that was open game by conservatives. He had come out as gay in 2015 in a local South Bend newspaper. Two years later he announced his engagement to Chasten Glezman, a junior high school teacher, whom he met on a social dating app in 2015. They were married in 2016. During his tenure as Secretary of Transportation, the couple adopted newborn fraternal twins in 2021; and when he took paternal leave, he came under attack from the Right in often homophobic language.

In an interview with Good Morning America, Buttigieg declared that he would not apologize for "taking care of my premature newborn infant twins. The work that we are doing is joyful, fulfilling, wonderful work."

One thing that you would think Buttigieg would not be questioned about would be his sexuality; but leave it to Tucker Carlson to come up with the insane notion that the 42-year old is "not gay," and continued to refer to him during a recent rant on his show Leading Report as "supposedly gay."

Even the conservative Washington Examiner, who published this report, considered Carlson unhinged. "While there's no reason for people to get 'offended,' it is a baseless thing for Carlson to suggest and an irresponsible use of his vast platform and influence," writes reporter Brad Palumbo about the "bizarre conspiracy theory." It was the second time in the past few months Carlson is saying it.

In a recent episode of his show, Carlson referred to Buttigieg as "supposedly gay." He went on to recount how one of his producers, who is gay, told him that Buttigieg "is not gay." Carlson says he believes his producer because "gays all keep close track of that stuff."

"My producer goes, 'It's totally a pose. He was dating women just a few years ago. It's totally fake. He's not gay at all,'" Carlson adds. "So, I said that on the air and people got all offended. I thought it was kind of hilarious."

"There is zero actual evidence that Buttigieg is faking being gay," Palumbo continued.. "A gay producer's theories and perception, nothing more than a hunch, do not constitute anything close to enough basis for a responsible journalist to make such a grave allegation against an elected official. After all, you're essentially accusing him of having built his entire career and persona around a falsehood, of being a fraud to his very core."

But outing gay men as straight isn't the only activity that Carlson been pursuing when he delves into the private lives of public officials. "Carlson similarly spread strange conspiracy theories that former President Barack Obama is gay on his show last year," Palumbo recalled. "He did an entire interview with a man who claims to have slept with Obama in 1999. But Carlson never mentioned that the man, Larry Sinclair, failed a lie detector test and has an extensive criminal record involving fraud, forgery, and deceit. Nonetheless, Carlson bizarrely describes the theory that Obama is gay as 'obviously true.'"

But when speaking of issues of queer sexuality, Carlson has avoided talking about the behavior of his ex-right-hand man, gay producer Justin Wells whom, Variety reported last December, was sued of for allegedly sexually assaulting another Fox employee in 2008. "The accuser, Andrew Delancey, alleges that Wells lured him to his apartment in New York, and then pushed him onto a bed and forcibly grabbed his genitals.

"Defendant Wells quickly began unbuttoning and trying to rip off Mr. Delancey's jeans as the sexual assault progressed," the lawsuit states. "Mr. Delancey was in complete shock. He yelled out, 'no!' and mustered up the strength to physically slow down Defendant Wells's physical attack."

The incident took place prior to Wells being hired by Carlson and becoming "his right hand man," writes Variety. He served as executive producer of Carlson's Fox show before he was ousted in April, 2023. He joined Carlson in leaving Fox, but left this past May for reasons "unclear," though remained a "senior advisor" to Carlson, reported Semafor Media.

According to a 2022 report in the Los Angeles Blade, queer journalist Michelangelo Signorile outed Wells as gay. After pointing out some of Carlson's more odious anti-queer comments, Signorile writes: "Twisted enough. But even more shocking is the little-known fact that a gay man helped craft, mold and disseminate these bloodcurdling distortions and the horrendous demonization against his own community...

"It's beyond horrific to think a gay man has helped to shape and widely disseminate a message of hate against LGBTQ people. This story is not, however, about a warped closet case, tormented by self-loathing, hiding his true self while bashing those like him. And thus, this story is not an outing, which involves exposing someone who covers up their sexual orientation while publicly presenting as heterosexual – though it certainly may be a startling revelation to a great many. It is, rather, about connecting the dots regarding a reality that seems to have been hiding in plain sight.

"Wells has been married to another man for almost 10 years, and they openly celebrated their wedding among family and friends. They live together in a residence they purchased in New York shortly after they married. And they also own a country home together, with both names on the deed."

But could it have been Wells' "gaydar" that convinced Carlson that "supposedly gay" Pete Buttigieg is not gay. And has he broken this news to Chasten?