Chasten James Glezman Buttigieg ( ; born June 23, 1989) is an American teacher, writer, and LGBTQ rights advocate. He is married to

Pete Buttigieg Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg ( ; ; Sometimes pronounced or , but not by Buttigieg himself. born January 19, 1982) is an American politician and former military officer who is currently serving as the United States secretary of transp ...

, the current

U.S. secretary of transportation The United States secretary of transportation is the head of the United States Department of Transportation. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to transportation. The secre ...

. He was an advisor, spokesperson, and social media campaigner during his husband's 2020 presidential campaign. In September 2020, Buttigieg released his debut memoir, ''

I Have Something to Tell You ''I Have Something to Tell You'' is a 2020 memoir by Chasten Buttigieg. It was published by Atria Books in September 2020 and includes topics from his early life in a conservative Midwestern family including sexual assault, domestic violence, ...

''.

Early life and education

Buttigieg was born Chasten James Glezman, on June 23, 1989, in

Traverse City, Michigan Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population was ...

, to Sherri (née Pelon) and Terry Glezman, owners of a landscaping business. The youngest of three brothers, he was raised in Chums Corner in a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

family. As a teenager, Buttigieg worked at a cherry products store called Cherry Republic and drove tractors on his grandfather's

cherry farm Hawksbury, also known as Cherry Farm (and sometimes erroneously as "Evansdale"), is a small residential and industrial area in New Zealand, located beside State Highway 1 between Dunedin and Waikouaiti.Sea Container history. Seadog 1979. Place n ...

in Suttons Bay. He won a

blue ribbon The blue ribbon is a symbol of high quality. The association comes from The Blue Riband, a prize awarded for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by passenger liners and, prior to that from Cordon Bleu, which referred to the blue ribbon ...

in pit spitting at the

National Cherry Festival The National Cherry Festival is a food festival in Traverse City, Michigan. It began in 1925 as the Blessing of the Blossoms Festival, which was held in early May to attract tourists to Northern Michigan to view the blooming cherry blossoms. In 1 ...

. Buttigieg attended

Traverse City West Senior High School Traverse City West Senior High School (also known as West Senior High, TC West, or simply TCW) is a public, co-educational secondary school located outside Traverse City, Michigan, in neighboring Garfield Township. Along with Traverse City Central ...

and spent his senior year as an exchange student in Germany. He took classes at

Northwestern Michigan College Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) is a public community college in Traverse City, Michigan. Founded in 1951, it enrolls nearly 4,000 students. NMC offers associate degrees and professional certificates, bachelor's degrees through the Great La ...

before attending the

University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire The University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire (UW–Eau Claire, UWEC or simply Eau Claire) is a public university in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It is part of the University of Wisconsin System and offers bachelor's and master's degrees. UW–Eau Claire ...

; he graduated in 2014 with a bachelor's degree in theater and global studies. Later, Buttigieg attended

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private, Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-centu ...

in Chicago where he received a Master of Education degree in 2017. That summer, Buttigieg began a

AMS AMS or Ams may refer to: Organizations Companies * Alenia Marconi Systems * American Management Systems * AMS (Advanced Music Systems) * ams AG, semiconductor manufacturer * AMS Pictures * Auxiliary Medical Services Educational institutions * A ...

/ MACTE certificate from

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 studen ...

Career

After graduating from college, Buttigieg moved to Milwaukee, where he worked as a teaching artist for

First Stage Children's Theater The First Stage Children's Theater is a professional American children's theater based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin founded in 1987. Its season consists of six “mainstage” shows, two shows for very young audiences, and two shows from its award-wi ...

as well as in classroom settings in the greater Milwaukee area. While pursuing his graduate degree, he was a substitute teacher in both Chicago and South Bend public schools. In fall 2017, Buttigieg began as a junior high humanities teacher at the Montessori Academy in

Mishawaka, Indiana Mishawaka is a city on the St. Joseph River, in Penn Township, St. Joseph County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 51,063 as of the 2020 census. Its nickname is "the Princess City". Mishawaka is a principal city of the South ...

. He also taught theater and ran a diversity club. He took a leave of absence to support his husband's campaign. In January 2019, Buttigieg joined the Civic Education Team of the

South Bend Civic Theatre South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total of 103,453 residents and is the fourt ...

as the Director of Curriculum. In 2016, Buttigieg was a State Democratic Delegate for St. Joseph County. He was the

first gentleman First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is also used to describe a woman seen to be at the t ...

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 United S ...

from June 16, 2018, to January 1, 2020.

2020 presidential election

Buttigieg was a campaign spokesperson, advisor, and social media campaigner for his husband

's campaign He was called Pete's “not-so-secret public-relations weapon.” If his husband had been elected, Chasten identified improving the nation's public schools, arts education, and mental health as the areas he would have focused on as First Gentleman. He also supports

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

rights. After his husband's withdrawal from the race, both endorsed Joe Biden and campaigned for him. Pete Buttigieg ended up placing fifth in terms of number of delegates. Since the campaign, Buttigieg now considers

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who is the 49th vice president of the United States. She is the first female vice president and the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history, as well ...

and

Doug Emhoff Douglas Craig Emhoff (born October 13, 1964) is an American lawyer who is the second gentleman of the United States. He is married to the 49th vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris. As the first-ever husband of a vice president, Em ...

close friends.

Post-presidential campaign

Buttigieg was a Harvard Institute of Politics Fellow for the fall 2020 virtual semester. On September 1, 2020, Buttigieg released his debut memoir, ''

''. The hardcover edition debuted at number 12 on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list for hardcover non-fiction. In December 2020, Buttigieg criticized

Joseph Epstein Joseph Epstein (October 16, 1911 – April 11, 1944), also known as Colonel Gilles and as Joseph Andrej, was a Poland, Polish-born Jewish Communism, communist activist and a French Resistance leader during World War II. He was executed by the ...

op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. O ...

about

Jill Biden Jill Tracy Jacobs Biden (born June 3, 1951) is an American educator and the current first lady of the United States since 2021, as the wife of President Joe Biden. She was the second lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017 when her hus ...

's academic credentials, calling it

sexist Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...

Personal life

Buttigieg

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

to his family at 18 and soon moved out, living with friends and in his car. In 2020, Buttigieg shared in his memoir that he was

sexually assaulted Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

by a friend of a friend when he was 18. The experience left him feeling ashamed for years. Buttigieg now has a "great relationship" with his parents. Buttigieg lives in Washington, D.C. with his husband, Pete Buttigieg, who is the current

U.S. Secretary of Transportation The United States secretary of transportation is the head of the United States Department of Transportation. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to transportation. The secre ...

. The two first met on the dating app

Hinge A hinge is a mechanical bearing that connects two solid objects, typically allowing only a limited angle of rotation between them. Two objects connected by an ideal hinge rotate relative to each other about a fixed axis of rotation: all other ...

in summer 2015. They met in person that August while Chasten was in graduate school. They got engaged in December 2017 at

O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Chicago Loop, ...

and married on June 16, 2018, at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. James in South Bend; the two appeared at the South Bend Gay Pride block party following their nuptials. On August 17, 2021, Buttigieg announced on his personal Twitter account that he and his husband had become parents. On September 4, Pete Buttigieg tweeted a photo of the couple with their newborn twins, a son and a daughter. Buttigieg used to perform

improv comedy Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted: created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, a ...

in and around the Chicago area.

Published works

* ''

: A Memoir'' (2020)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buttigieg, Chasten 1989 births 21st-century American educators 21st-century American male writers 21st-century Roman Catholics Activists from Indiana Activists from Michigan 21st-century American memoirists Catholics from Indiana Catholics from Michigan DePaul University alumni American gay writers Indiana Democrats LGBT memoirists LGBT people from Indiana LGBT people from Michigan LGBT rights activists from the United States LGBT Roman Catholics Living people Michigan Democrats People from Traverse City, Michigan Pete Buttigieg Schoolteachers from Indiana Schoolteachers from Michigan Spouses of Indiana politicians University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire alumni Writers from Michigan Writers from South Bend, Indiana