Daniel Summers is a pediatrician in the Boston area. He is a regular contributing columnist at Slate and Arc Digital, where he writes about LGBTQ and health issues.

Pete Buttigieg isn’t my preferred candidate. After being impressed by him and giving to his presidential campaign early on, I became increasingly wary.

If he finds his way to the Oval Office, I am sure he would serve with distinction and would be such a vast improvement over President Trump as to make it insulting even to compare them. But when Super Tuesday arrives, I will vote for Elizabeth Warren.

But I still find myself wanting to speak up for him. Newly minted Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Rush Limbaugh cracked wise in recent comments about Buttigieg being “a gay guy, 37 years old, loves kissing his husband on debate stages,” and asked how he would look next to “Mr. Man Donald Trump."

Never mind the fact Buttigieg served in the Navy. To Limbaugh and many others, his sexuality automatically emasculates him. The fact he kisses his husband in public is something so many gay men like us fear doing, in a way Limbaugh never had to with any of his four wives, or the president with his three wives. For Buttigieg, kissing his spouse publicly is an act of political courage. Read more via Washington Post