Prospect of gay U.S. president in Pete Buttigieg thrills Vancouver LGBT champion Tim Stevenson

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      As a gay man, Tim Stevenson wrote some serious history.

      First openly gay minister ordained by the United Church of Canada. First openly gay member of the B.C. legislative assembly. First openly gay cabinet minister in the country.

      This is why Stevenson is exhilarated by the rise of openly gay politician Pete Buttigieg as a top-tier contender for the Democratic Party’s nomination for presidential candidate in the 2020 U.S. election.

      Buttigieg won the party’s Iowa caucuses, the first of the nominating contests, and is reported to be on track for a strong showing in New Hampshire’s primary set Tuesday (February 11).

      Buttigieg could be the first openly gay president of the U.S.

      “It’s pretty heady stuff,” Stevenson, who retired undefeated as a Vancouver city councillor, told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview.

      According to Stevenson, Buttigieg, who at 38 is the youngest in the Democratic crop, has done extraordinarily well.

      “Far better than I think most people would have expected,” he said. “He was up against a formidable group of people who are, you know, very involved in the political system.”

      For Stevenson, whose work as a councillor made Vancouver a more inclusive city, Buttigieg’s success means a lot to the broad LGBT community.

      “Never has there been an openly gay person run for the most powerful position in the world, and do so well, obviously it means that there's a great deal of acceptance, and a huge sea change has taken place in the last 25 years for this to happen,” Stevenson said.

      Currently an instructor with Langara College, Stevenson also noted that Buttigieg’s rising political star is also a reflection of the “extraordinary individual himself".

      Buttigieg was 29 years old when he was first elected mayor in January 2012, and becoming the youngest mayor to serve a U.S. city with over 100,000 residents. He was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford. He speaks seven languages in addition to English. He served in Afghanistan as a military officer.

      In 2015, he came out as gay. He married three years later.

      At a gathering with his supporters following the Iowa caucuses on February 3, Buttigieg called his husband, Chasten, the "future first gentleman of the United States". The two men hugged on stage.

      Tim Stevenson, a former Vancouver city councilor, is currently an instructor with Langara College.
      CRAIG TAKEUCHI

      “Of course, it has been said that he won't have a hope because he is openly gay, that he won't win the religious vote,” Stevenson said.

      But as Stevenson explained, Buttigieg is “very religious himself”.

      “He’s a progressive Christian. He's not a fundamentalist, literalist evangelical Christian. But, you know, the evangelical Christians, which is a very big voting bloc and supported [U.S. President Donald] Trump in the last election, they won't vote for any Democrat the matter if he gay or a woman or black, Asian or whatever.”

      According to Stevenson, a potential Buttigieg presidency would be no less than earthshaking.

      “The most powerful nation on Earth, the United States of America, this will not only be significant, and my God, if he is to win the nomination, and then if he wins to become president, you know, this will be so significant, not just in the local LGBT communities here in North America, but around the world,” Stevenson said. 

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