Pete Buttigieg doesn’t think he’ll be the first gay president of the United States.
But maybe the second? Or the third?
In an interview broadcast Sunday on “Axios on HBO,” the Democratic candidate said it’s “almost certain” we’ve already had a gay president.
“I would imagine we’ve probably had excellent presidents who were gay — we just didn’t know which ones.”
“I mean, statistically, it’s almost certain,” Buttigieg said, when asked if he thinks there have been past gay presidents.
When pressed for who, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., didn’t hazard a guess.
“My gaydar even doesn’t work that well in the present, let alone retroactively,” he said. “But one can only assume that’s the case.”
In 2018, a Gallup poll found a record 4.5% of Americans identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. Forty-four men have been president, so when one crunches the numbers, it would not be statistically improbable that one or two of those have been gay — just not open about it.
Whether Buttigieg or someone else, most Americans appear to be fine with the concept. An NBC-Wall Street Journal poll in April found nearly 70% would be “enthusiastic” or “comfortable” with a gay or lesbian president.
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