Former Vice President Mike Pence has been criticized for what has been called a homophobic joke that he made during the Gridiron Club Dinner in Washington, DC on Saturday, March 11. Pence was seemingly deriding Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s “maternity leave” following the premature birth of Buttigieg’s adopted kids.
In 2021, Buttigieg, together with his husband, adopted newborn twins. The babies developed respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and one of them needed to be hospitalized and hooked up to a ventilator.
Former VP Pence remarked that during the two months of Buttigieg’s so-called “maternity leave,” incidents such as thousands of Americans getting stranded at airports, problems with the air traffic control system, and the near collision of airplanes happened, implying that the Transportation Secretary was neglecting his duties.
Pence said, “I mean, Pete Buttigieg is the only person in human history to have a child and all the rest of us get postpartum depression.”
Due to his remarks, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre asked Pence for an apology. She said Pence’s statements were offensive and disrespectful, not only to Pete Buttigieg, but to all women, sufferers of postpartum depression, and members of the LGBTQ community. She added that all these people should be treated with respect and dignity.
Chasten, Buttigieg’s husband, also responded by posting a tweet directed at Pence, asking him if his grandchild was in the hospital on a ventilator, where would he be?
Pence, a former governor of Indiana, and Buttigieg, a former mayor of a town in Indiana, worked together to address economic development issues in the state, with Pence commenting in an interview in 2019 that they had a “great working relationship.”
A few months earlier, Tucker Carlson of Fox News also had taken a jab at Buttigieg, who was then on paternity leave, saying that he was trying to “figure out how to breastfeed.” Buttigieg, during a conversation with CNN, replied by saying that he does not plan to apologize to Carlson, nor anyone else, for prioritizing his children.
