Chasten Buttigieg

Chasten James Glezman Buttigieg (born June 23, 1989) is an American teacher, author, and LGBT+ activist. He is married to Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, and was an advisor, spokesperson, and social media campaigner during his 2020 presidential campaign. In September 2020, Buttigieg released a memoir titled I Have Something to Tell You.

Early life and education
Buttigieg was born Chasten James Glezman, on June 23, 1989, in Traverse City, Michigan, to Sherri (née Pelon) and Terry Glezman, owners of a landscaping business. The youngest of three brothers, he was raised in Chums Corner, a suburban area outside Traverse City, in a conservative Roman Catholic family. As a teenager, Buttigieg worked at a cherry products store called Cherry Republic and drove tractors on his grandfather's cherry farm in Suttons Bay. He won a blue ribbon in pit spitting at the National Cherry Festival.

Buttigieg attended Traverse City West Senior High School and spent his senior year as an exchange student in Germany. He took classes at Northwestern Michigan College before attending the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire; he graduated in 2014 with a bachelor's degree in theater and global studies. Later, Buttigieg attended DePaul University in Chicago where he received a Master of Education degree in 2017. That summer, Buttigieg began a AMS/MACTE certificate from Xavier University.

Career
After graduating from college, Buttigieg moved to Milwaukee, where he worked as a teaching artist for First Stage Children's Theater as well as in classroom settings in the greater Milwaukee area.

While pursuing his graduate degree, he was a substitute teacher in both Chicago and South Bend public schools. In fall 2017, Buttigieg began as a junior high humanities teacher at the Montessori Academy in Mishawaka, Indiana. He also taught theater and ran a diversity club. He took a leave of absence to support his husband's campaign. In January 2019, Buttigieg joined the Civic Education Team of the South Bend Civic Theatre as the Director of Curriculum.

In 2016, Buttigieg was a State Democratic Delegate for St. Joseph County. He was the first gentleman of South Bend, Indiana, from June 16, 2018, to January 1, 2020.

2020 presidential election
Buttigieg was a campaign spokesperson, advisor, and social media campaigner for his husband Pete Buttigieg's campaign If his husband had been elected, Chasten identified improving the nation's public schools, arts education, and mental health as the areas he would have focused on as First Gentleman. He also supports LGBTQ rights.

After his husband's withdrawal from the race, both endorsed Joe Biden and campaigned for him. Since the campaign, Buttigieg now considers Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff close friends.

Post-presidential campaign
Buttigieg was a Harvard Institute of Politics Fellow for the fall 2020 virtual semester. On September 1, 2020, Buttigieg released his debut memoir, I Have Something to Tell You. The hardcover edition debuted at number 12 on The New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover non-fiction. In December 2020, Buttigieg criticized Joseph Epstein's op-ed about Jill Biden's academic credentials, calling it sexist.

Personal life
Buttigieg came out to his family at 18 and soon moved out, living with friends and in his car. In 2019, Buttigieg reported he now had a "great relationship" with his parents. In 2020, Buttigieg shared in his memoir that he was sexually assaulted by a friend of a friend when he was 18. The experience left him feeling ashamed for years.

Buttigieg lives in Washington, D.C., with his husband, Pete Buttigieg, who is the U.S. Secretary of Transportation. The two first met on the dating app Hinge in summer 2015. They met in person that August while Chasten was in graduate school. They got engaged in December 2017 at O'Hare International Airport and married on June 16, 2018, at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. James in South Bend; the two appeared at the South Bend Gay Pride block party following their nuptials. On August 17, 2021, Buttigieg announced on his personal Twitter account that he and his husband had become parents. On September 4, Pete Buttigieg tweeted a photo of the couple with their newborn twins, a son and a daughter.

Buttigieg used to perform improv comedy in and around the Chicago area.

Published works

 * I Have Something to Tell You: A Memoir (2020)