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Buttigieg sworn in as the first out Cabinet Secretary
The first openly gay cabinet member was sworn in to office by the first female vice president Feb. 3
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg was sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building — part of the White House complex. Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Chasten Buttigieg were also present.
In the masked ceremony, Harris led Buttigieg through the oath as he swore to support and defend the Constitution. Harris cheerfully congratulated him afterward and then elbow-bumped Chasten, because of COVID-19 protocols. Pete Buttigieg then hugged his husband.
“This is our moment to build back better,” Buttigieg tweeted right after the ceremony.
After running in the Democratic presidential primary last year and becoming the first out candidate to win a state’s primary, Buttigieg went on to become a fierce advocate for the Biden/Harris campaign.
The Senate confirmed him as Secretary of Transportation by a bipartisan vote of 86 to 13 on Feb. 2.
His rise to the nation’s awareness began April 14, 2019.
“My name is Pete Buttigieg, they call me Mayor Pete,” he said in his rainy-day announcement.”I am a proud son of South Bend, Indiana, and I am running for President of the United States.”
Buttigieg went on to make history when he became the first out candidate to participate in a presidential debate. There he made policy arguments, discussing extending access to college to more people, and taking issue with the then-popular Medicare for all. He also spoke openly about his relationship.
“I have the experience of being in a marriage that is possible by a single vote on the Supreme Court,” he said.
It was not an experience shared by anyone else onstage.
He later went on to kiss his husband, Chasten, onstage at a 2019 presidential rally in a much-discussed moment.
“You have put on a clinic on how a nominee should work and act. You haven’t avoided the questions,” Sen. Jon Tester told Buttigieg during the Senate confirmation. “And that’s pretty damn refreshing.”
