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  • I'm here in New York City, gay capital of the world--

  • except for Berlin, San Francisco or Congress--

  • here to talk to some LGBTQ voters.

  • Anyway, I've come to the Leslie Lohman

  • to talk with LGBTQ voters

  • about finally getting the gay presidential candidate

  • we've all dreamed of.

  • So if someone told you ten years ago

  • that there was going to be a gay presidential candidate,

  • how do you feel like you would have reacted?

  • Because I know, for me, I would have been like,

  • "Who told you I'm gay?

  • Was it Kevin?"

  • Oh, I would... I would have believed it,

  • but I would think it would be a woman, though.

  • Ten years ago, Barack Obama was still evolving about marriage.

  • It's a real leap to think that ten years later,

  • we would have a viable queer candidate

  • for president of the United States.

  • YOUNG-WHITE: But being proud of Pete

  • doesn't mean that we're voting for him.

  • Raise your hand if you plan on voting

  • for Mayor Pete in the primary.

  • -(laughter) -I don't think it's possible for me.

  • There's nothing that he could do to make you vote for him?

  • No.

  • Our community actually has a bit of a shameful history

  • in the sense that gay white men

  • have historically marginalized the contributions

  • of trans women and trans men and people of color.

  • I am trans, and, you know, knowing

  • that there is gonna be a... you know,

  • a cis, gay presidential candidate doesn't do anything

  • to make my life any safer as a trans woman.

  • YOUNG-WHITE: And that's the divide.

  • According to my unofficial poll,

  • the type of gay you are determines

  • whether you trust Pete to represent you.

  • A lot of people will say that

  • he's not queer enough,

  • -or he's not gay enough. -What does that even mean?

  • He's gay enough if we can hold his feet to the fire

  • to make sure that our voices are heard.

  • I live in South Bend, and I work

  • with Black Lives Matter South Bend, and those are...

  • They don't have trust for Pete.

  • So you want him to wear a leather harness,

  • and you want him and Chasten to open their relationship,

  • and you want them to be poly?

  • We just want him to actually pay attention

  • to the policing problem.

  • I had a face-to-face with him, and I asked him,

  • "What are you doing about the police brutality in Indiana?"

  • And he kept saying, "Well, this is what I want you to do.

  • I want you to push me, I want..."

  • I don't need to push you.

  • You know what needs to be done.

  • Okay, so you're not asking him to be more gay.

  • -You just want him to care about the margins. -Correct.

  • I want him to care about the margins,

  • and leave the Dockers at home.

  • YOUNG-WHITE: Pete's rainbow booty shorts are actually

  • just a pair of relaxed fit Dockers,

  • which is why I wonder if his mainstream appeal is

  • that you can kind of forget he's gay.

  • As much as we can say that Pete's brand

  • of queerness has problematic aspects,

  • don't you think that that actually makes him electable?

  • For example, look at this.

  • MAN: That is my brand of queerness.

  • We don't have a picket fence, but

  • that looks like a picture of my husband and me.

  • The word that's not there is "first gay family."

  • You know, the word that's there is, "first family."

  • That is something America can-can get behind, I think.

  • I see it as a disappointingly sanitized version

  • of what it means to be gay.

  • To a lot of critics, this looks like this.

  • Oh...

  • They're less a gay couple

  • and more so just, like, uh, two guys

  • who decided to make granola in their kitchen.

  • They're clearly gay,

  • and if that's not gay enough

  • for the people in this country, I don't know what would be.

  • So it sounds like

  • the takeaway of this conversation should be,

  • if Buttigieg does not eat his husband's (bleep)

  • on live TV, he is not gay enough for me.

  • I'm out.

  • (laughter)

  • How about this?

  • Gay people-- we're basically straight.

  • N-no.

  • I mean, the takeaway is, also, that for a lot of voters,

  • you can't just choose gay.

  • -You also have to think about your race. -Okay.

  • Pete Buttigieg-- black people don't like him

  • because of the police stuff and homophobia or something?

  • No, black people like him.

  • And a lot of black people don't.

  • Pete Buttigieg--

  • a lot of black people don't like him, but some do.

  • Can you imagine how fun it will be

  • to watch a gay, married, midwestern mayor

  • destroy Donald Trump?

  • Okay, I hear you.

  • Pete Buttigieg-- I'm taking Trump to pound town.

  • -No one wants to see that. -No.

  • So then, what is is it?

  • I think the takeaway should be that, um,

  • the LGBTQ community is not a monolith,

  • and, uh, you know, the first gay presidential candidate means

  • very different things

  • to very different people in our community.

  • YOUNG-WHITE: Whether you believe Pete is

  • the visibility we spent decades fighting for,

  • or just another centrist white guy

  • who's easy on the eyes and the police,

  • the gay community is making it clear.

  • If you want our vote,

  • you better work...

  • (sighs) I can't... I'm not (bleep) saying that.

  • I can't (bleep) that. What the (bleep) does that even mean?

  • (cheering)

I'm here in New York City, gay capital of the world--

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