Pete Buttigieg: ‘While They Focus on Books To Ban, I’m Focused on Bridges To Build’
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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg talked to People magazine last week in an exclusive interview and reminded us why we wanted him as the next commander in chief.
Times may seem bleak right now and our adversaries may seem stronger than ever, but Buttigieg proves once again why a positive attitude, whip smart thinking, and optimism win the day.
That’s leadership.
Read the excerpt below:
To hear him tell it, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“This is the topic I’ve always cared about. I mean, from the policy work we did when I was mayor [in Indiana], all the way back through, you know, childhood fascinations,” Buttigieg excitedly tells PEOPLE about his role as secretary of transportation in a recent chat after his town hall at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, last week.
t’s clear that Buttigieg, a 40-year-old Navy Reserve vet, former corporate consultant and history-making mayor and presidential candidate, is passionate about his newest role, in which he’s served since February 2021. He seemingly wants to share that passion with everyone who crosses his path.
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“It’s a uniquely exciting thing to be working on, and it’s a uniquely exciting time to be working on. I’m the 19th secretary of transportation and I don’t think there’s ever been a better time to have this job,” he says. “So yeah, hopefully that comes through in my work when I’m talking to folks because I do think there’s a contagious energy to it. Maybe it’s a little nerdy, but some of the stuff we’re working on is just so important and so powerful, and it can be really fun, too.”
Buttigieg likes to say that “transportation should connect, never divide” and, he says, by putting a human touch on what could otherwise be a dry and tedious subject he can garner more interest.
“Good transportation projects link people to opportunity, link people to loved ones, link people to education. But there is unfortunately also always a risk that a piece of transportation infrastructure can get in the way,” says Buttigieg, referring to how some policies have historically created boundaries between neighborhoods of differing social economic backgrounds.
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Division and parenting also came up in Buttigieg’s conversation with when PEOPLE when looking at the recent raft of LGBTQ restrictions being proposed or enacted around the country, from a Florida bill to forbid discussions of sexual orientation and gender in younger classes to a Texas directive to investigate parents who seek certain kinds of medical care for their transgender children.
Buttigieg, the first openly gay Cabinet member in U.S. history, is also concerned. “Unfortunately, we’ve seen a pattern of politicians targeting vulnerable people for political gain,” he says. (The measures are overwhelmingly backed by Republicans.) “And I think that’s what’s happening here. In Texas, what’s especially troubling is turning against parents, actually threatening parents who support their kids. When parental support is one of the biggest things that stands between vulnerable, queer youth and the risk of suicide.”
“I think it’s coming from some political figures who don’t have answers to the issues of the day. They haven’t put forward a plan on climate, they haven’t put forward a plan on inflation,” Buttigieg argues. “And so, I think they’d rather be picking these cultural fights … So they’re going to keep focusing on which books to ban, and I’m focused on which bridges to build.”
