US Minister Buttigieg and husband present their babies

He is the first openly gay US Federal Minister – and one of the youngest cabinet members in US history: Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten have become parents.

Washington – The US Democrats’ shooting star, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, and his husband Chasten have presented their offspring to the public.

Buttigieg posted a photo on Twitter showing him and his husband in bed – both with a newborn baby in their arms. He wrote: “We are delighted to have Penelope Rose and Joseph August Buttigieg in our family.” He did not provide any further details about the babies.

A good two weeks ago Buttigieg announced that he and his husband had become parents. “For some time now, Chasten and I have wanted to expand our family,” the 39-year-old wrote in a tweet in mid-August. “We are overjoyed to announce that we have become parents.” The process has not yet been completed. He did not give any further details at the time, but rather put off until later: “We can hardly wait to tell more soon.”

Enhanced profile in the election campaign

Buttigieg caused a sensation as a candidate for the presidential candidacy of the US Democrats. Before that, he had been largely unknown at the national level. During the election campaign, however, he worked his way up to the top of the internal party applicants field at times in surveys and gained enormous popularity and profile before he left the race. Until the end of 2019, Buttigieg was mayor of a city of 100,000 in the US state of Indiana.

US President Joe Biden eventually made Buttigieg his Secretary of Transportation. The department is not in itself one of the most prestigious, but it has been significantly upgraded in view of the huge infrastructure investments in Biden’s government. Buttigieg is the first openly gay federal minister in the United States – and one of the youngest cabinet members in the country’s history. dpa