Chasten Buttigieg, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's husband, joined "The View" on Thursday and said that it's an "extremely dangerous time" with Republican "book bans" and attacks on "trans kids."
Co-host Joy Behar asked Buttigieg about politicians trying to "restrict gay and trans rights."
"It’s basically a larger issue what’s going on in the country right now. It’s one incident with Pence, but politicians across the country are trying to restrict gay and trans rights, everything from Florida’s so-called ‘don’t say gay’ bill to banning drag shows. There’s a war against transgender people. It’s disgusting the way they’re treating these people who are harmless, really. How dangerous a time do you think this is? Is it worse than ever before?" Co-host Joy Behar asked.
He told the hosts that it was an extremely dangerous and upsetting moment in American history.
"I think it’s an extremely dangerous time and it’s a really upsetting time because nothing could be more important than showing up and protecting our families. The way they say they’re showing up for families, this conversation about giving parents more choice, protecting children, what they’ve really done is, and they've done quite a good job, it's been a very well coordinated, well-funded effort to attack the LGBTQ+ community, specifically with the book bans. When you look at what many of these things have in common, they’re extremely vulnerable children," Buttigieg said.
He said politicians were going after "extremely vulnerable kids," because they're losing "policy arguments."
"So you have groups of politicians making calculated choices, maybe because they’re losing some policy arguments, to go after extremely vulnerable kids, especially trans kids. It’s hard enough being in school as it is. But to be a transgender kid in school and you have this coordinated effort by people who are going after them because they don’t know what else to talk about. They need an enemy. And right now they’ve decided to make children their enemy. And it’s very, very nerve wracking," he continued.
Buttigieg joined the hosts to discuss former Vice President Mike Pence's "maternity leave" joke directed at Pete Buttigieg.
Buttigieg told the hosts that it wasn't "woke" to say that something is "homophobic or misogynistic."
"I spoke up for two reasons. One, I’m always going to stick up for my family, especially my kid," he said. "But I know we all struggle to find a balance between work and family life and I’ve never seen someone work harder than my husband to find that balance. But I think Republican or Democrat we can all agree that when your child, our prematurely born child, barely five pounds, when your kid is connected to a ventilator, you don’t want to be anywhere but their bedside."
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told The Washington Blade on Monday that Pence's joke was "homophobic," "offensive" and "inappropriate," and called on him to apologize "to women and LGBTQ people."
Pence adviser Marc Short said the Biden administration should "spare America the faux outrage."
"The hypocrisy is especially rich considering their own Secretary of State Antony Blinken joked that he yearned for ‘the old days’ when ‘Jews did all the work,'" he told Fox News Digital.
Pence represented Republicans at annual Gridiron Dinner in Washington, D.C. The former Vice President was joined by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who represented Democrats, and Blinken, who represented the Biden administration.
He also called out former president Donald Trump at the event and said he was "wrong" for his handling of Jan. 6
Pence said he knew history would "hold Donald Trump accountable."
Fox News Digital's Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
