LGBTQ groups celebrate Buttigieg pick for Transportation Secretary

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Celebrating two of the country’s top LGBTQ advocacy groups Pete ButtigiegPete ButtigiegLGBTQ Groups Celebrate Buttigieg Pick for Transportation Secretary Biden Taps Buttigieg to Serve as Transportation Secretary Buttigieg Top List for Biden Transportation Secretary: CNN MORENominated as President-elect Joe BidenJoe BidenDeVos urges education department staff to ‘resist’ when Biden takes office LGBTQ groups celebrate Buttigieg pick for Transportation secretary Biden administration needs two-pronged solutions for older Americans, lawmakers say MORE‘s Transport Secretary.

Should Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., Be confirmed at the post, he would be the first openly gay cabinet secretary to be confirmed by the Senate. Rick Grenell, who was the acting director of the National Intelligence Service from February to May, was the first openly LGBTQ cabinet secretary.

“Let’s celebrate this move towards greater visibility of LGBTQs and continue to strive for greater representation of our diverse community at all levels of government,” tweeted the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the country’s leading LGBTQ advocacy group.

“Pete’s appointment is another milestone in a decades-long effort to ensure that LGBTQ people are represented across our government – and its impact will resonate much beyond the department he will lead. It distances our nation from a troubled legacy of banning LGBTQ people from government positions and brings us closer to the president-elect’s vision of a government that mirrors America, ”added Annise Parker, president of LGBTQ Victory Institute. “As a true LGBTQ person, Pete will provide a unique perspective that will inform and influence policy across the federal government. Most importantly, though, Pete will be bringing his intellect and energy to the Department of Transportation and our nation will be better off as a result. ”

Buttigieg rose to national prominence this year during his long-shot presidential bid, which quickly caught fire and earned him a victory in the Iowa caucuses. Although his White House bid eventually burned out, he was widely recognized as a rising star in the Democratic Party and, given the red tilt of his home state of Indiana, he was considered a likely candidate for a post in a Democratic government.

“Mayor Pete Buttigieg is a patriot and problem solver who speaks to the best of who we are as a nation,” Biden said in a statement announcing his appointment of Buttigieg. “I am nominating him for Secretary of Transport because this position is at the crossroads of so many of the interlocking challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.”

Local activists in South Bend, frustrated with the former mayor’s race report, especially after police gunned down a black man in town, expressed outrage at the nomination.

“You will recall that in his Build Back Better agenda one of Biden’s most important promises was millions of clean energy jobs. We know that the infrastructure runs through the Department of Transportation. Residents of South Bend know that, in addition to our former small town mayor being completely unfit to run a cabinet office, Pete Buttigieg would continue his track record of hurting black communities every day in his decision-making. We strongly believe that hurting black communities is not worth the price of doing Pete Buttigieg a political favor, ”said Jorden Giger, a Black Lives Matter organizer in South Bend.

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