“I want to be brave like you,” the boy tells the Democratic presidential hopeful at Denver campaign event
Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg was approached by a 9-year-old boy at a Denver campaign event Saturday night and asked, “Would you help me tell the world I’m gay, too? I want to be brave like you.”
The boy, identified as Zachary Ro, attended the town hall with his parents. He later said he didn’t attend the rally planning to ask that question; it was a spur of the moment decision he came to as he walked in.
“I don’t think you need a lot of advice for me on bravery. You seem pretty strong to me,” Buttigieg, who is gay, told Ro. “It took me a long time to figure out how to tell even my best friend that I was gay, let alone to go out there and tell the world and to see you willing to come to terms with who you are in a room full of 1,000 people, thousands of people you’ve never met that’s, that’s really something.”
Buttigieg did, however, offer young Zachary a few things to think about.
“It won’t always be easy, but that’s OK because you know who you are,” Buttigieg told him. “And that’s really important, because when you know who you are, you have a center of gravity that can hold you together when all kinds of chaos is happening around you.”
He added, “When I was trying to figure out who I was, I was afraid that who I was might mean that I could never make a difference. And what wound up happening instead is that it’s a huge part of the difference I get to make. I never could have seen that coming, and you’ll never know whose life you might be affecting right now, just by standing here. There’s a lot of power in that.”
The South Bend, Indiana mayor came out in an essay he wrote for the South Bend Tribune in June 2015, making him Indiana’s first openly gay elected official. Three years later, he married junior high school teacher Chasten Glezman, who took Buttigieg’s name.
Watch what Buttigieg told Ro in the clip above.
Gay Hollywood: 41 Out and Proud LGBT Stars (Photos)
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Ellen DeGeneres, talk show host, actress and comedian
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Jodie Foster, Oscar-winning actress and director
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Zachary Quinto, actor and producer (“Star Trek”)
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Neil Patrick Harris, former “How I Met Your Mother” actor
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Robin Roberts, “Good Morning America” anchor
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Jane Lynch, former “Glee” actress and “Hollywood Game Night” host
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Jim Parsons, Emmy-winning actor in “The Big Bang Theory”
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Raven-Symoné, former “That’s So Raven” star
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Guillermo Diaz, actor (“Scandal”)
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Maria Bello, “Prisoners” actress
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Sarah Paulson, star of “American Horror Story”
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Matt Bomer, actor (“White Collar,” “American Horror Story”)
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Cynthia Nixon, former “Sex and the City” actress
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Kristen Stewart, actress (“Twilight” series)
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Holland Taylor, former “Two and a Half Men” actress
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Adam Lambert, singer and “American Idol” alum
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Elton John, singer
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Sara Gilbert, actress and producer of “The Conners”
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Cheyenne Jackson, actor (“30 Rock,” “American Horror Story”)
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Colton Haynes, actor (“Teen Wolf,” “Arrow”)
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Ellen Page, actress (“X-Men,” “Juno”)
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Ben Whishaw, actor (“Spectre”)
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Wanda Sykes, actress and comedian
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Wentworth Miller, “Prison Break” star
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Rosie O’Donnell, actress and former talk show host
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Portia De Rossi, actress (“Scandal,” “Arrested Development”)
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Ricky Martin, singer
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Lily Tomlin, comedian and actress (“Grace & Frankie”)
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Sam Smith, Oscar-winning singer and songwriter
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Jesse Tyler Ferguson, “Modern Family” actor
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Laverne Cox, “Orange Is the New Black” star
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Meredith Baxter, “Family Ties” actress
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Barry Manilow, singer
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Amandla Stenberg, actress (“Everything Everything”)
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Darren Young, WWE superstar
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Daniela Vega, actress (“A Fantastic Woman”)
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George Takei, former “Star Trek” actor
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Ezra Miller, “Justice League” actor
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Jillian Michaels, “The Biggest Loser” coach
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Ian McKellen, actor in “The Lord of the Rings” and “X-Men” franchises
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Sean Hayes, actor in “Will and Grace”
From actress Jane Lynch to actor Zachary Quinto to talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, stars who serve as inspirations for Pride Month
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