I’ll be honest: I’m of two minds about Mayor Pete.
Part of me is thinking, Hey, great, an out gay man running for President! Photogenic husband, adorable family (Yes, they have a dog.)… he’s a PR agent’s wet dream, of a candidate. What’s not to love here!
But that’s where we think about the other part. A black candidate, for example, can run his/her campaign by talking straight up about black issues in America. A female candidate can get all kinds of media mileage talking about women’s issues. A rich old white guy running for the GOP will get plenty of ink and bytes talking about issues that affect the rich — or the wannaberich. But the moment Pete opens his mouth and talks about LGBTQ issues in any kind of meaningful way? Everyone will go EWWWW and run screaming for the nearest shower.
As such, I have no doubt he’s been told how much he can talk about those issues, and I daresay it’s probably not much. Granted, the US — or a good chunk of it anyway — wants its candidates to be well-rounded so they dont just look like political single-issue snack packs. It wants them aware of what’s going on in the world beyond the Beltway. It wants them to know how to communicate with other world leaders without insulting them. It wants them considerate yet forceful as needed. But what America probably cannot handle right now is the sight of a guy swearing in as president with his beaming husband standing proudly to one side. I wish it were otherwise for you folks, but somehow, given the schisms on display in your country, it’s really, really unlikely.
So Pete gets around this by pretty much hoping everyone will ignore the fact that he’s a gay man married to another gay man. Oh sure, the media talks about it a lot, but that’s just him allowing them to do the heavy listing while he talks about other issues of importance to the country. As long as he keeps his mention of it to a minimum, no one really has to deal with it.
I like him. I think he’s smart and aware and well-grounded. He’s also the straightest gay man I think I’ve ever seen. I suppose in a somewhat demented country like the US these days, that’s a plus.
I just wish he’d fly his freak flag a teensy bit more…
DOC AND RAIDER 
“do the heavy listing”
liFting?
Actually, in this sense, listing is correct. 🙂
OK – wasn’t sure. I’m w/you on Mayor Pete . . . but then, I’m TRYING to ignore ALL the Dems ’til next year . . . who knows who’ll be left on the list??
Mayor Pete isn’t much of a freak, really. He thinks — or at least he *says* — that VP Pence was made to be fervently antigay by the antigay Trump. Which would be fine, if Pence hadn’t burnished his antigay bonafides by proposing and signing really quite a lot of antigay legislation when he was governor of Indiana, to the point that it cost his state quite a few conventions, national collegiate championships, and I think possibly a Super Bowl. Mayor Pete may be able to push the party to be a bit more liberal on some things, I suppose, but basically, he’s there to put a conservative-looking white guy face on gay issues. Period. (That said, he’s likely to *deeply* regret qualifying for the debates, and will regret it even more if he does well enough that the media stars paying more attention to him.)
“(That said, he’s likely to *deeply* regret qualifying for the debates, and will regret it even more if he does well enough that the media stars paying more attention to him.)”
Much like the current resident of the WH.