Pete Buttigieg

After all you're looking at someone who as a young man growing up wondered if something deep inside of him meant that he would forever be an outsider, would never wear the uniform, never be accepted, never know love, and now you are looking at that same young man, a veteran, a mayor, happily married, asking for your vote for president of the United States.

Don't listen to anybody in either party who says we can just go back to what we were doing, we know that the struggle is not over, not even close. At a time like today when you can still be legally fired in so many parts of this country because of who you are or who you love, we have work to do.

I have seen what America can do, and so have you. After all, you're looking at someone who, as a young man growing up, wondered if something deep inside of him meant that he would forever be an outsider, would never wear the uniform, never be accepted, never know love, and now you are looking at that same young man, a veteran, a mayor, happily married, asking for you to vote for president of United States.

New Hampshire can be challenging to be a person of faith who's also part of the LGBTQ community and yet, to me, the core of faith is regard for one another, and part of God's love is experienced, according to my faith tradition, is in the way that we support one another and, in particular, support the least among us.

The thing I love about him, and maybe the thing you love about him, too, is he is the same person whether we are at home folding laundry together, or if he's in front of a room like this, full of supporters. He's the exact same person.

We know that the struggle is not over, not even close. At a time like today when you can still be legally fired in so many parts of this country because of who you are or who you love, we have work to do.