Meet Chasten Buttigieg, would-be first gentleman.

Chasten Buttigieg and Pete Buttigieg’s love story

Then Chasten Glezman met Pete Buttigieg on the dating app Hinge in the summer of 2015. After dating for three years, the pair were married in June 2018. In August 2021, they announced that they had become parents.

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After struggling to adopt, Pete wrote on his Medium account that he and Chasten were contacted out of the blue by the adoption agency about a mother who had given birth and wanted her twins to be adopted. Per Advocate, the couple were told that the babies had been born prematurely and had potential health issues. Pete detailed the anxious weeks that ensued, with baby girl Penelope suffering from severe reflux and breathing issues, and baby boy Joseph being intubated at one point. Happily, both children are now healthy and present in their dads’ very public lives.

How active is Chasten Buttigieg on social media?

It was during Pete’s 2020 US presidential campaign that he and Chasten first gave the public a peek inside their private lives. Chasten quit his job as a teacher to work on his husband’s presidential bid and go on the campaign trail.

Chasten, who at the time of writing has more than 600,000 followers on X (formerly Twitter), told The Washington Post that although he was generally unafraid to share his views on social media, when Pete was campaigning for president, he suddenly had to consider everything he said and its potential impact.

His advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community on X has apparently become a passion, particularly when it comes to bullied teens and childhood education. In March this year, he got into a spat with Chaya Raichik, a far-right and anti-LGBT TikTok and X user who goes by the handle Libs of TikTok. Raichik was appointed to Oklahoma’s library advisory committee, despite not living in the state or having the qualifications required for the role. Chasten publicly called out the hiring, with Raichik clapping back by claiming that Pete was a diversity hire who only got the job as US transportation secretary because he’s gay.

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Chasten Buttigieg has come a long way since his early days

Steadfast in his advocacy, Chasten’s own journey was no walk in the park. Per The Washington Post, he came out when he was 18 and immediately left home because his parents and brothers were not supportive. He spent months couch surfing, finding a bed wherever he could, until his mum called him to come home.

But there’s still a rift between Chasten and his brother Rhyan Glezman, an evangelical pastor. Glezman has publicly criticised Chasten’s husband Pete, telling The Washington Post that, while he wants the best for his brother, he is opposed to “the gay lifestyle”. He also called Pete “anti-God” based on his stated position on abortion, in the run-up to the 2020 US elections, per Fox News.

Chasten Buttigieg has written a book on coming out

Chasten documented his coming out journey in his New York Times bestseller, I Have Something to Tell You. Speaking to The Washington Post, he said, “I wanted to write a book that I knew could help young people, their families and teachers have conversations about what it is like to grow up different in America, and also a book that might be comforting to younger people, teenagers, who are just trying to survive middle school and high school.”

Born and raised in rural Michigan, Chasten returned to his old stamping ground after his husband withdrew from the 2020 presidential race. Per Politico, although the Buttigiegs spend most of their time in Washington DC, they bought a house in Michigan to be closer to nature and family.