Pete Buttigieg is doing pretty fucking well, politically. It helps that he’s a medal-wearing veteran. I think that’s actually an important credential for most politicians but in the case of a gay man, perhaps moreso because it helps silence any slurs against his manhood.

To be honest I think gay people are doing pretty fucking well these days versus when I grew up. There are still plenty of firsts left to happen, like President. But my whole childhood and young adulthood, gays were public enemies and the focus of conservative ire at every turn. They seem to have switched targets to trans people now, which is awful. But it has left gay people in an unusually quiet space. The marriage question is settled in all 50 states. With that, we seem to have moved on.