A supporter at a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg private fundraiser yelled at queer protesters Friday and told them they were “homophobes.”
Two queer activists stood up at the Buttigieg fundraiser in San Francisco and shouted, “Boot-edge-edge! Boot-edge-edge,” after the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor was asked a question about his husband Chasten Buttigieg, the Guardian reported.
Protesters carrying “Queers Against Pete” signs gathered outside the event. They are part of a growing coalition of queer voters who say Pete Buttigieg is not representative of their stances, the publication reported.
“I respect your activism, but this is a gathering for supporters of our campaign and I just got a question about my husband and I’m really excited to answer it,” Pete Buttigieg said from the stage, according to the Guardian.
WATCH:
After the activists were escorted from the building, a Buttigieg supporter yelled at the protesters, “You’re homophobes, that’s what you all are, you’re homophobes!”
“We’re all gay!” one of the protesters responded. (RELATED: Buttigieg Refuses To Say He Does Not Support Infanticide)
“You interrupted that question,” the Buttigieg supporter answered, walking toward protester Celi Tamayo-Lee. “You’re deplorable.”
“Don’t walk up on us,” a different protester said, who shielded Tamayo-Lee.
WATCH:
Here’s video of the queer activists disrupting the Pete Buttigieg fundraiser pic.twitter.com/yh9CmTBhMh
— Vivian Ho (@VivianHo) February 14, 2020
“You’re walking up on us, going up on us because we’re gay men,” the supporter said. “You’re horrible.”
Tamayo-Lee told the Guardian before the event that “it’s hard to enjoy or appreciate when his stances are so middle of the road and speak to a predominantly white, upper class audience.”
Adiel Pollydore, a 26-year-old black, queer program director with Student Action also told the Guardian that queer people are “allowed” to want a candidate to “do better and be better.”
“The people who disrupted that fundraiser were all queer people of color,” Pollydore said. “We’re allowed to want the gay candidate who is running to do better and be better for queer communities of color. There’s nothing homophobic about that.”
Pollydore added that Pete Buttigieg only represents a small percentage of queer and trans experiences throughout the U.S. since the former mayor is white, cisgender, a man and highly educated.
“We know queer and trans folks of color, especially black queer and trans folks, live at the intersection of so many systems of oppression in this country,” Pollydore added.
“This run for president could have been a really unique opportunity to lift up those experiences and talk about all the different ways we are criminalized and our safety is constantly threatened and we are shut out of institutions on the regular,” the program director said. “But this campaign has not been about that.”
The Buttigieg campaign did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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