By BRIAN A. BOYLE

If presidential debates, especially those with as many names and faces as Thursday night’s, are just superficial exercises in generating snappy, CNN-social-feed-ready soundbites, I’d be hard-pressed to say South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg had a successful night. History still has its eye on you, Mayor Pete.

“At a certain point, when it came to professional setbacks, I had to wonder whether just acknowledging who I was was going to be the ultimate career-ending, professional setback,” he remarked. In 2019, it might be easy for blue state voters to pass over how unprecedented it is for an openly gay candidate to have this much success running for the highest of offices. It’s remarkable — and great — that many straight voters in his political party think little more of his sexuality than a potential coalition building block. But Buttigieg’s closing speech served as a reminder that being gay and being in politics, at this level, did not always mix so well. It was only four years ago, after all, that the mayor publicly came out of the closet. And even then, in Mike Pence’s Indiana, it was a politically risky move.

And, of course, there are layers and caveats to everything. It’s noteworthy that Buttigieg is gay, though it also worth noting he’s about as straight-passing as they come. No one is mistaking him as a Jonathan when he’s clearly an Antoni. He’s “palatable.” Depending on which wave of the LGBTQ rights movement one happens to be surfing on, this is either the best or worst thing about him (and, to be clear, this certainly correlates with race, class and age). Read more via Los Angeles Times