Mayor Buttigieg gets LGBT leadership award
(NOTRE DAME, Ind.) — Mayor Pete Buttigieg is back from the campaign trail, just in time to receive an award from the Gay and Lesbian Alumni of Notre Dame and Saint Mary's (GALA ND/SMC).
The mayor was awarded the Larry Condren Distinguished Service Award for "breaking down barriers in the LGBT community."
"Mayor Pete leading by example as a leader in the community that our two campuses are in it meant a lot to people," Bryan Ricketts, vice-president of GALA ND/SMC, said.
At the ceremony on Notre Dame's campus, Buttigieg says it's not lost on him that the teachings of the catholic church are that homosexuality is a sin.
"As an Episcopalian, it meant a lot to me that our marriage took place in the church and was blessed by the bishop, and I'm sad for LGBT catholics that they don't have that same opportunity today," Buttigieg said.
Religion has become a bigger and bigger talking point for Mayor Buttigieg. He's talked a lot recently about embracing the religious left, which he says Democrats have lost in recent years. But the mayor says religion is more about teaching people to care for one another, something he says is not happening right now.
"What I see right now is that at least certain factions of the religious right are aligning themselves with an administration that is mostly about putting people down," Buttigieg said.
