STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

Pete Buttigieg: It’s ‘Almost Certain’ There Have Been Gay Presidents Before

“We just didn’t know which ones,” said the 2020 hopeful.

If he wins in 2020, Pete Buttigieg is pretty sure he won’t be the first gay president. Speaking to Axios on its HBO program, the South Bend, Indiana, mayor was asked how he’s going to respond to people who attack him during the campaign for being too young, too liberal, or too gay to be the American president. “We have had excellent presidents who have been young,” he said. “We have had excellent presidents who have been liberal. I would imagine we’ve probably had excellent presidents who were gay—we just didn’t know which ones.” He went on to say that it was statistically “almost certain” that there had been gay presidents, but he couldn’t name names. “My gaydar even doesn’t work that well in the present, let alone retroactively,” he lamented.