Former US Secretary of Transport, and popular pick for the 2028 US Presidential race, Pete Buttigieg says he’s not interested in taking a sex quiz with right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson.
Earlier this month the former Fox News personality put forward a bizarre conspiracy theory where he suggested that Buttigieg is not really gay, and said he had a sex quiz that he wanted the politician to subject himself to.
During an appearance at the University of Michigan Buttigieg responded the the comments, saying he couldn’t think of anything he’d like to do less.
“I cannot think of a topic I would like to discuss less with Tucker Carlson than that,” he said holding back laughter.
Be then said that he did have a little bit of “morbid curiosity” about what the test would involve, before ruling it out as something he’d be engaging with.
Carlson made the claim on his podcast during a discussion with right wing commentator Michael Knowles, but offered no evidence to support his claim.
During the discussion Knowles brought up Pete Buttigieg and Carlson retorted with “the fake gay guy”.
He then went on to explain that he had producers who work for him who are gay, but they’ve told him they don’t believe Buttigieg is genuine about his sexuality.
“My gay producers are always like, ‘he’s not gay,’” Carlson said. “He was with a girl, like, 20 minutes ago. And, like, he wants to be the Democratic nominee. It’s, like, ‘time for a gay guy.’”
He then went on to describe Buttigieg as someone who “found some benighted Midwestern town that he can become mayor of.”
Buttigieg was the Mayor of South Bend, Indiana before he made the move into federal politics. He was born and grew up there, with his parents both being professors at Notre Dame University.
Carlson said he wanted to interview Buttigieg and ask him some very specific questions about gay sex.
“I’m gonna ask him very specific questions about gay sex and see if he can even answer. I doubt he even knows. You’re not gay, dude. Stop.” Carlson said.
In his 2019 memoir Shortest Way Home, Pete Buttigieg reflected on his experiences with his sexuality and how he met his husband, Chasten Glezman.
Buttigieg explained that he had kept his personal life private for many years. When he first entered the military, the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was still enforced, and later, as an elected official, he remained cautious about how openly identifying as gay might affect his career.
He described himself as someone deeply supportive of LGBTIQA+ rights, yet hesitant to let his sexual orientation completely define his public identity.
In 2015, he began sharing the truth with family and close friends, and soon after with members of his campaign team. That same year, he came out publicly in a short op-ed published in his hometown newspaper.
Buttigieg and his now husband first connected in 2015 through the dating app Hinge. They became engaged in 2017 and married in 2018.
Just two months after releasing his autobiography in 2019, Buttigieg announced his candidacy for President of the United States. He went on to make history by winning the Iowa Democratic Caucus, becoming the first openly gay candidate to claim victory in a major party primary.
After finishing fourth in the South Carolina primary, he suspended his campaign and threw his support behind Joe Biden. Following Biden’s election, Buttigieg was appointed Secretary of Transportation.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris recently revealed that she considered choosing Buttigieg as her running mate when she became the Democrat’s candidate for the 2024 Presidential race, but opted to go with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as she didn’t believe the country would get behind a ticket that included a black woman and a gay man.
