In a bizarre and inflammatory segment on The Tucker Carlson Show, conservative commentator Tucker Carlson once again cast doubt on the sexuality of former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, questioning the legitimacy of the openly gay politician’s identity and suggesting he would like to ask him “very specific questions about gay sex.”
The comments, which aired on a recent episode of Carlson’s podcast, were made during an interview with fellow right-wing commentator Michael Knowles. The two were discussing a variety of topics, including a recent controversy involving Donald Trump and Harvard University, when Buttigieg’s name surfaced. What followed was a rant that has been widely criticized as both homophobic and bizarre.
“The fake gay guy?” Carlson said, interrupting Knowles. “My gay producer is always like, ‘He’s not gay.’ He was with a girl like 20 minutes ago and like he wants to be the Democratic nominee. It’s like: ‘time for a gay guy!’”
Carlson did not provide any evidence to support the claim that Buttigieg was recently in a relationship with a woman, nor did he explain why that would disqualify someone from identifying as gay. Buttigieg, who came out publicly in 2015 while serving as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has been married to husband Chasten Buttigieg since 2018. The couple, who met on Hinge, are now raising adopted twins together.
Despite this well-documented personal history, Carlson seemed insistent on undermining Buttigieg’s identity, claiming the former presidential candidate is playing a “long game” with his public persona.
“I’ve always wanted to interview him,” Carlson said. “He’s never agreed to an interview, but I’m going to ask him like some very specific questions about gay sex and see if he can even answer. I doubt he even knows. You’re not gay, dude. Stop.”
History of Hostility
This is far from the first time Carlson has publicly attacked Buttigieg’s identity. In 2022, while hosting Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News, he criticized Buttigieg for taking paid parental leave following the birth and adoption of his twins. Carlson mockingly suggested that Buttigieg was “missing in action” and had “hid” his sexuality for years for reasons “he’s never been asked to explain.”
Buttigieg has addressed his decision to come out later in life. In a 2015 op-ed for the South Bend Tribune, he wrote candidly about the internal conflict he faced as a young man.
“I was well into adulthood before I was prepared to acknowledge the simple fact that I am gay,” Buttigieg wrote at the time. “It took years of struggle and growth for me to recognize that it’s just a fact of life, like having brown hair, and part of who I am.”
Still, Carlson and others on the far right continue to frame Buttigieg’s identity as performative or inauthentic, despite years of public life, marriage, and parenting that would suggest otherwise.
A Pattern of Provocation
Carlson’s fixation on Buttigieg’s sexuality is part of a larger pattern in which he routinely undermines or mocks queer public figures. In 2024, he told listeners that his unnamed gay producer had claimed Buttigieg wasn’t gay at all, as if gay identity were something one could only verify through a private club of gatekeepers.
“No, that’s complete bullshit,” Carlson recounted his producer allegedly saying. “All gays keep very close track of that stuff.”
While it may seem absurd on its face, Carlson’s line of attack carries a darker implication: that queer people in public life are only “authentic” if they meet the standards of the political right, or if their queerness can be weaponized against them.
That line of thinking plays into larger conservative efforts to police gender and sexuality in public spaces, often by insisting that queer identities are faked, exaggerated, or part of some broader political agenda.
Queer Backlash and Visibility
Carlson’s comments have drawn immediate backlash from LGBTQ+ advocates and allies, many of whom see the remarks as yet another attempt to discredit queer people based on outdated and offensive stereotypes.
“This is exactly the kind of dehumanizing rhetoric we expect from Tucker Carlson at this point,” said one LGBTQ+ rights organizer on X (formerly Twitter). “But it’s still dangerous. Undermining someone’s identity in this way isn’t just ignorant, it gives permission to others to harass and erase queer people from public life.”
Others have pointed out the inherent irony in Carlson, a straight man, declaring who is or isn’t “really gay,” while expressing an unusual interest in the details of Buttigieg’s sex life.
What’s Really at Stake
Buttigieg, for his part, has not publicly responded to Carlson’s latest remarks. He remains a prominent figure within the Democratic Party and has long maintained a complicated relationship with the LGBTQ+ community. While many have celebrated his visibility as an out gay man in national politics, some progressives have criticized his centrism and perceived lack of engagement on trans and nonbinary issues.
Still, that nuance is lost in Carlson’s reductive framing. By reducing Buttigieg’s identity to a punchline or political calculation, the conservative firebrand reinforces a dangerous binary: that queer people must constantly prove their identity, or risk having it stripped away.
In the end, the question isn’t whether Pete Buttigieg is “gay enough” for Tucker Carlson, it’s why Carlson believes it’s his question to ask in the first place.
