Pete Buttigieg's speech as first openly LGBTQ+ Cabinet nominee

"The eyes of history are on this appointment."  This was Pete Buttigieg's acceptance speech for his historic nomination to Joe Biden's Cabinet.

Transcript

00:00For me, this isn't academic, it's personal.

00:03I'm also mindful that the eyes of history

00:06are on this appointment,

00:08knowing that this is the first time an American president

00:11has ever sent an openly LGBTQ cabinet member

00:14to the Senate for confirmation.

00:18I can remember watching the news, 17 years old in Indiana,

00:22seeing a story about an appointee of President Clinton

00:25named to be an ambassador,

00:27attacked and denied a vote in the Senate

00:30because he was gay,

00:32ultimately able to serve only by a recess appointment.

00:37At the time, I had no aspirations

00:39of being appointed by a president to anything.

00:41At that age, I was hoping to be an airline pilot

00:44and I was a long way from coming out, even to myself,

00:46but still, I watched that story

00:49and I learned something about some of the limits

00:52that exist in this country

00:55when it comes to who is allowed to belong.

00:58But just as important,

01:00I saw how those limits could be challenged.

01:03So two decades later, I can't help but think

01:06of a 17-year-old somewhere

01:08who might be watching us right now,

01:10somebody who wonders whether and where they belong

01:13in the world or even in their own family.

01:16And I'm thinking about the message

01:18that today's announcement is sending to them.

01:21So thank you, Mr. President-elect.