Chasten Buttigieg

Buttigieg was born Chasten James Glezman, on June 23, 1989, in Traverse City, Michigan, to Sherri (née Pelon) and Terry Glezman, owners of a landscaping business.[1][2] The youngest of three brothers, he was raised in Chums Corner in a conservative Roman Catholic family.[2][3] As a teenager, Buttigieg worked at a cherry products store called Cherry Republic and drove tractors on his grandfather's cherry farm in Suttons Bay. He won a blue ribbon in pit spitting at the National Cherry Festival.[4]

Buttigieg attended Traverse City West Senior High School and spent his senior year as an exchange student in Germany. He took classes at Northwestern Michigan College before attending the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire;[5] he graduated in 2014 with a bachelor's degree in theater and global studies.[6] Later, Buttigieg attended DePaul University in Chicago where he received a Master of Education degree in 2017.[7] That summer, Buttigieg began a AMS/MACTE certificate from Xavier University.[8]

After graduating from college, Buttigieg moved to Milwaukee, where he worked as a teaching artist for First Stage Children's Theater as well as in classroom settings in the greater Milwaukee area.[9]

While pursuing his graduate degree, he was a substitute teacher in both Chicago and South Bend public schools. In fall 2017, Buttigieg began as a junior high humanities teacher at the Montessori Academy in Mishawaka, Indiana.[8][10] He also taught theater and ran a diversity club.[5] He took a leave of absence to support his husband's campaign.[11] In January 2019, Buttigieg joined the Civic Education Team of the South Bend Civic Theatre as the Director of Curriculum.[12]

In 2016, Buttigieg was a State Democratic Delegate for St. Joseph County.[13] He was the first gentleman of South Bend, Indiana, from June 16, 2018, to January 1, 2020.[14]

2020 presidential election

Main article: Pete Buttigieg 2020 presidential campaign

Chasten (left) and Pete Buttigieg campaigning in Iowa in 2019

Buttigieg was a campaign spokesperson,[15] advisor,[16] and social media campaigner for his husband Pete Buttigieg's campaign[17] He was called Pete's “not-so-secret public-relations weapon.”[18] If his husband had been elected, Chasten identified improving the nation's public schools, arts education, and mental health as the areas he would have focused on as First Gentleman.[19] He also supports LGBTQ rights.[20][21]

After his husband's withdrawal from the race, both endorsed Joe Biden and campaigned for him.[22][23][24] Pete Buttigieg ended up placing fifth in terms of number of delegates.[23] Since the campaign, Buttigieg now considers Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff close friends.[25]

Pete and Chasten Buttigieg in 2019

Buttigieg came out to his family at 18 and soon moved out, living with friends and in his car.[5] In 2020, Buttigieg shared in his memoir that he was sexually assaulted by a friend of a friend when he was 18. The experience left him feeling ashamed for years.[29] Buttigieg now has a "great relationship" with his parents.[5]

Buttigieg lives in Washington, D.C.,[30] with his husband, Pete Buttigieg, who is the current U.S. Secretary of Transportation.[31][32] The two first met on the dating app Hinge in summer 2015. They met in person that August while Chasten was in graduate school.[33] They got engaged in December 2017 at O'Hare International Airport and married on June 16, 2018, at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. James in South Bend; the two appeared at the South Bend Gay Pride block party following their nuptials.[3][34][35] On August 17, 2021, Buttigieg announced on his personal Twitter account that he and his husband had become parents. On September 4, Pete Buttigieg tweeted a photo of the couple with their newborn twins, a son and a daughter.[36]

Buttigieg used to perform improv comedy in and around the Chicago area.[3]

• I Have Something to Tell You: A Memoir (2020)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chasten Buttigieg.

• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Chasten Buttigieg at IMDb