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