Pete Buttigieg's Own Brother-in-Law Accuses Him of Lying About His Family
The brother-in-law of Democratic presidential contender and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg claims he and his family have been trashed to create a better storyline for Buttigieg’s campaign.
Rhyan Glezman, 34, sat down with the Washington Examiner to vent his concerns over a May 1 story in The Washington Post that Glezman felt maligned his family.
The Post story painted a traumatic scene of the moment when Glezman’s brother, Chasten, now 29 and Buttigieg’s husband, revealed his sexual orientation to his family.
“A stalemate took hold of the house,” The Post wrote. “There was a lot of silence, Chasten says, but he remembers hearing one of his brothers utter, ‘No brother of mine …’ Chasten packed his bags. ‘I felt like I just could not be there,’ he says. ‘So, I left.'”
Glezman acknowledged the story is dramatic, but said it’s untrue.
“A mayor from a small city and his husband, a child who grew up with nothing and his parents kicked him out … it makes a perfect political story for the campaign,” Glezman told the Examiner.
“To me, that’s very sad. If that’s all you have to stand on, you’re not fit to be president of the United States.”
Some truth behind my brother @Chas10Buttigieg coming out as Gay to our family. You were never shunned, always loved and always will be. https://t.co/DHuZiWmGoB
— Rhyan Glezman (@rhyanglezman) May 24, 2019
The Western Journal has reached out to the Buttigieg campaign for comment. No response had been received as of Friday morning.
The story’s depiction of his brother as homeless irked Glezman.
“He went away,” Glezman said. “He was struggling for a time. But there was nothing on the family end that said he had to leave.”
Glezman, the pastor of a church in Clio, Michigan, said he cares deeply for his brother.
“Do I love him? Absolutely. He is my brother. You can’t change that. Just because we have a disagreement doesn’t change that,” he said,
Glezman objected to a comment from him that was used by The Post saying that he objected to the “gay lifestyle.” As a minister, he said, he has Bible-based concerns that run deeper than family issues.
Pete Buttigieg’s brother-in-law, a pastor, claims WaPo twisted his words to make him seem homophobic https://t.co/f1Iu6bWFUx
— Rhyan Glezman (@rhyanglezman) May 24, 2019
The Post story also portrayed the family as barely getting by, which also angered Glezman.
“The story makes it look as if he came from nothing, a poor family,” he said. “Chasten had everything, from cellphones paid for, car insurance paid for.”
Glezman told the Examiner the story triggered an avalanche of attacks.
“There was one that said I should go out to the woodshed and kill myself,” he said, noting the vast amount of social media hate he received.
“I believe for me, as a Christian, we’re the people being shunned, people being silenced, and a lot of the liberal side of things are becoming the bigots to Christianity and faith. They are becoming the intolerant side,” he said.
A little more perspective on the bigotry from the left. The party who preaches tolerance is becoming intolerant of Gods ideal. Everyone is given free will by our creator, but not all roads lead to eternal life with Jesus. https://t.co/r6eYIJE3Kh
— Rhyan Glezman (@rhyanglezman) May 30, 2019
But whether Glezman loves his brother or not, that will not extend to voting for his brother’s spouse.
A Donald Trump voter in 2016, Glezman said he’s voted for Democrats in the past, but won’t be voting for Buttigieg if he wins the Democratic nomination.
“That’s not because he’s gay,” Glezman told the Examiner.
“When you want to rewrite the Electoral College, when you want to change the makeup of the Supreme Court, when you want to have open borders and not have any process there, his extreme view on abortion … those are things that are very important to me.”
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