Pete Buttigieg has challenged Mike Pence to question his attitude towards LGBTQ people, telling the vice president that it was God who made him gay. The Democratic presidential hopeful, who's enjoyed a surge in popularity over recent weeks, addressed Pence in a speech Sunday for the LGBTQ Victory Fund. Buttigieg said the message that being gay is wrong puts people at “war” with their feelings towards themselves and God. “That’s the thing that I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand,” Buttigieg said. “That if you have a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator.” The mayor went on to explain the difficulty he had in coming out, saying: “It’s hard to face the truth that there were times in my life when, if you had shown me exactly what it was inside me that made me gay, I would have cut it out with a knife.”