The Mystery of Pete Buttigieg

Here’s a surprise from President Joe Biden’s time in office: One of the most prominent figures in the debate over paid parental leave—a right that 186 other countries give at least to mothers, and that could boost the national birth rate and strengthen the traditional family unit—is the gay, male secretary of transportation.

Starting in August, Pete Buttigieg left work for several weeks to care for the twins that he and his husband, Chasten, had just adopted. In doing so, he took advantage of the kind of lenience for federal workers that and that . Yet Buttigieg’s leave also kicked up a culture skirmish. The podcaster called it “weird” for fathers to take time off. Representative Lauren Boebert contrasted his leave-taking with her own story of giving birth in aFor being a dad.