Pete Buttigieg was approved by the Senate last month as the Secretary of Transportation. He will be the first openly gay person to be confirmed to a Cabinet post. He’ll be tasked with advancing President Joe Biden’s ambitious agenda of rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure and fighting climate change. Buttigieg is also the youngest member ever confirmed to a Presidential cabinet at age 39.
“I’m honored and humbled by today’s vote in the Senate—and ready to get to work,” “I’m honored to serve as Secretary of Transportation and will help build the kind of infrastructure that creates jobs, empowers all, and keeps travelers & workers safe,” says the Secretary.
Buttigieg will be in charge of the nation’s Transportation Department with 55,000 employees and a budget in the tens of billions. Buttigieg has pledged to quickly get to work promoting safety and restoring consumer trust in America’s transportation networks as airlines, buses, city subway systems and trains have been hit hard by the Corona virus pandemic.
Buttigieg is expected to play an important role in promoting Biden’s sweeping green initiatives, helping to oversee stronger automotive fuel economy standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support the president’s push on a $2 trillion climate and infrastructure plan.
“We are bearing witness to LGBTQ+ history, and we are thrilled to see another barrier broken” says Lambda Legal in a statement on their Facebook page.
To be sure, our community moves forward when high-level appointments such as this occurs. The more LGBT people that get elected to public office, achieve high-level appointments to cabinets and commissions and otherwise get into positions of power, we move forward. So, if you are thinking about positions of leadership, elected or otherwise, pursue your dreams. This is how our community makes progress.