Pete Buttigieg on June 26 shared that someone tried to separate him from his children by filing a false anonymous report with Child Protective Services, setting off an investigation with police and social workers, and official interviews of his 4-year-old twins. While we can all see the cruelty of this act, what some people will miss is that in this case Buttigieg’s identity itself was the crime.
We live in a world that still treats queer parenthood as suspicious and, in my work on wrongful convictions, I see this pattern over and over again: queer people are accused not just of made-up crimes but of being inherently dangerous because of their identity.
In this case, the crime was Buttigieg and his husband Chasten being two gay men raising children.
I am a queer Hoosier, born and raised in Indiana like Buttigieg. My new book, “Pink Crime: Fighting Against the Criminalization of Motherhood, Pregnancy, and Queer Identity,” shines a light on how queer families are vilified and criminalized.
My wife and I routinely worry: If we are the last parent to pick our daughter up from daycare, or she has diaper rash, or that time she grabbed a piece of glass from our newly shattered hot water kettle and cut her hand — will we be called in as “bad” parents to be investigated? Will someone report us to Child Protective Services, not for what we have done, but because we are queer and thus inherently labeled — by some — as dangerous?
Baseless claims of child abuse against LGBTQ+ adults are rising again. The first transgender person to serve in Congress, Sarah McBride, was quickly and baselessly accused by fellow U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace of “grooming young children.” The false stereotype that LGBTQ+ adults are sexual threats to children has a long and disgraced history. It is a myth that was debunked decades ago. In reality, most groomers are straight men; just look at Jeffrey Epstein.
I admire Buttigieg’s courage for speaking out, because while it is horrific how he and his family were targeted, it can also be shame-inducing. He was targeted because he is gay, and today that is enough for people to slander and attack queer people with old stereotypes: deviant, deceptive, dangerous.
Loving queer families have existed in many cultures for centuries, and we will continue to exist. Let’s remember that during this Pride Month.
Valena Beety is a law professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, and a board member of the Indiana Innocence Project. She was previously a federal prosecutor.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pete Buttigieg lived every queer parent’s nightmare | Opinion
Reporting by Valena Beety, Opinion Contributor / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Valena Beety, Opinion Contributor | USA TODAY Network
