Donald Trump has said that he would be willing to vote for a gay presidential candidate – despite anti-LGBT+ attacks on Pete Buttigeg from several of his allies.
In an interview with Fox News host Geraldo Rivera on his Roadkill with Geraldo podcast, the leader was asked if Americans could vote for a gay man to be President.
Donald Trump weighs in on ‘Boot-ed-edge’.
Trump responded: “I think so. I think there would be some that wouldn’t, and, you know, I wouldn’t be among that group to be honest with you.
“I think that, yes, I think that it doesn’t seem to be hurting Pete Boot-ed-edge [sic] as you say, as you would call him.
“It doesn’t seem to be hurting him very much, but there would certainly be a group that probably wouldn’t. But you and I would not be in that group.”
Some of Trump’s closest allies have been responsible for lobbing anti-LGBT+ epithets at Buttigieg, who won the Iowa caucuses and came a close second in New Hampshire’s primaries.
Trump’s allies have resorted to anti-LGBT attacks.
Right-wing shock jock Rush Limbaugh, who Trump personally awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom last week, claimed on Monday that Pete Buttigieg kissing his husband causes “problems” for parents.
“So I saw a political ad, where Mayor Pete, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, going on and on and on and on and on, about how parents in America are struggling to explain president Trump to their children,” Limbaugh said.
Holding up a photo of Buttigieg kissing his husband Chasten, Limbaugh continued: “So he says Trump causes problems for parents, what about that?”
He then criticised Buttigieg for “kissing his husband [in public] – which he does frequently.”
Franklin Graham, a Trump faith adviser who preached at the President’s inauguration, has also called on Buttigieg to “repent” to avoid ” eternal damnation”.
He wrote: “Mayor Buttigieg says he’s a gay Christian. As a Christian I believe the Bible which defines homosexuality as sin, something to be repentant of, not something to be flaunted, praised or politicised. The Bible says marriage is between a man & a woman—not two men, not two women.
“The core of the Christian faith is believing and following Jesus Christ, who God sent to be the Savior of the world – to save us from sin, to save us from hell, to save us from eternal damnation.”