Get your popcorn out because Pete Buttigieg’s husband Chasten Buttigieg is striking back at the bigoted head of Libs of TikTok and we are LIVING for it!
At a Human Rights Campaign forum to discuss the issues surrounding the death of Oklahoma trans teen Nex Benedict, who died the day after being attacked in the girls’ bathroom at school, the Transportation Secretary’s husband talked about the “many, many adults” who “failed Nex” and specifically called out the state’s superintendent for hiring anti-LGBTQ+ influencer Chaya Raichik, The Advocate reported.
Buttigieg said that Raichik — who runs the far-right and anti-LGBTQ+ social-media accounts Libs of TikTok — isn’t fit to hold her new position on the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s Library Media Advisory Committee since she lacks a degree in library science or education, is intensely anti-LGBTQ+, and isn’t even a resident of the state.
“Placing individuals who have openly attacked LGBTQ+ rights in positions that influence educational policy sends a dangerous message,” he said. “It undermines the very foundation of what education should be—a place of safety, growth, and inclusivity.”
Buttigieg went on to criticize labeling the hate group as an “activist group” instead of calling it for what it is.
“This is not an activist group, and the fact that the school district, especially the state superintendent, wouldn’t speak to that fact and the type of hatred that is invited into a community when people in positions of power allow it to happen,” he said.
And because Raichik is incapable of not insulting queer people, she took to X (formerly Twitter) to lash out at Butting and voice her hateful opinions, including pushing the dangerous narrative that kids can be “transed” — whatever that means — by exposure to the queer community.
“The husband of a current Cabinet member publicly blasted a citizen journalist because I post tiktoks he doesn’t like and don’t want kids being transed in school,” Raichik. “Does anyone else find this alarming.”
Lucky for us, Buttigieg wasn’t about to take this lying down.
“As a parent and former teacher, I want qualified people involved in education,” he wrote in response on X. “This is actually quite simple. Chaya isn’t qualified for her appointed government position. She doesn’t live in Oklahoma. Holds no degree in education. Zero classroom experience. The rest is theatrics.”
Raichik then made multiple posts where she resorted to saying that the only reason the Biden administration hired Pete Buttigieg was “because he’s gay” and a “diversity hire.”
She couldn’t think of a good way to refute his actual claims, so she attacked his husband’s career. It’s truly a pathetic attempt at an insult that she obviously thought was clever.
Then yesterday, when she didn’t get a response, she continued to shout into the void, this time posting from the Libs of TikTok account, calling Buttigieg a “child groomer” because of a sweet video that went viral this week, showing him leading group of teens in a modified pledge of allegiance to the Pride flag while helping at Pride Camp, an Iowa summer camp for gay and transgender high school students.
Calling queer people “groomers” is so hateful, but it’s also become such a common far-right talking point that it’s also predictable and tired.
So not only is Raichik a bully and bigot, but she’s also boring.
