Extremist and high-profile Donald Trump supporter considered too racist by some of the MAGA movement’s most fervent members, Laura Loomer, launched a deeply homophobic tirade attacking U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten, falsely claiming they are abusive for raising children as a same-sex couple.
Loomer, a far-right provocateur with a history of incendiary remarks and peddling of conspiracy theories, targeted the Buttigieg family in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) starting on Wednesday, calling the couple’s parenting “psychological abuse.” Loomer’s attack comes as she continues to align herself with former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign.
The controversy erupted after Pete Buttigieg, the nation’s first out gay Senate-confirmed Cabinet member, posted a sarcastic message from his personal X account responding to Trump’s claim that he is the “father of IVF” during an all-women’s town hall hosted by Fox News host Harris Faulkner in Georgia on Tuesday, which aired Wednesday. In September, Trump, during the only presidential debate of the election, declared himself a “leader on fertilization.”
Vice President Kamala Harris responded to Trump’s latest claim on X.
“Donald Trump called himself ‘the father of IVF.’ What is he talking about? His abortion bans have already jeopardized access to it in states across the country—and his own platform could end IVF altogether,” Harris wrote.
Also mocking Trump’s statement, Buttigieg posted, “I’m the father of IVF… getting banned in Alabama,” highlighting the contradiction between Trump’s claim and the reality of anti-abortion laws in GOP-led states that have also impacted fertility treatments.
Loomer responded with a vitriolic attack on the Buttigiegs. She falsely suggested that the couple, who adopted their two children in 2021, used a surrogate and accused them of harming their children. “You incubated a baby in a biological woman’s womb and pretended to breastfeed with plastic nipples in a hospital bed like a psychopath,” Loomer wrote. “Homosexual men cannot give birth. Gay men can’t get pregnant or make breast milk. You aren’t even a real father. Donald Trump is.”
Chasten Buttigieg, a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, initially responded on X, calling out Loomer’s hate-filled rhetoric and Trump’s connection to her. “Is this who we want in the White House influencing policy on childcare or education? Sitting in the Oval Office pushing Project 2025?” he wrote, referencing a conservative agenda aimed at reshaping federal policies and rolling back LGBTQ+ rights. “Let them keep doubling down on this type of weird bigotry while we focus on knocking on doors, making calls, and bringing people together. #KamalaHarris is for the people. MAGA is for whatever this is.”
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Loomer doubled down in response, claiming the Buttigiegs “psychologically abuse” their children by raising them in a same-sex household. “I know what we don’t need or want in the White House. Men like you who think it’s ok to psychologically abuse children by depriving them of maternal touch when they are babies,” she wrote. She then went on a weird tangent about breastfeeding.
“Someone should call CPS on you for mimicking a child sucking on your nipple when you aren’t even a biological woman,” Loomer wrote.
An AI-generated image of Pete Buttigieg “breastfeeding” that Loomer referenced has been debunked and flagged as false multiple times on social media, and the Buttigieg family’s adoption journey has been widely covered. Yet Loomer continued to spread falsehoods, suggesting that Child Protective Services should intervene.
LGBTQ+ families like the Buttigiegs face unique challenges, but they are a growing and significant part of American society. According to the Williams Institute at UCLA’s School of Law, between 2 million and 3.7 million children in the U.S. are being raised by LGBTQ+ parents. About 191,000 children are being raised by same-sex couples, and 29 percent of LGBTQ+ adults are raising a child under 18. LGBTQ+ couples are also seven times more likely to foster or adopt children than their heterosexual counterparts, according to Family Equality.
Chasten Buttigieg told The Advocate that the focus should remain on the upcoming election and the high stakes for LGBTQ+ families. “With less than three weeks to go until the election, it is clear that for Trump’s closest allies the plan is distraction and division while Democrats are laser focused on solutions and action. The American people don’t need conspiracy theorists or Project 2025 anywhere near the White House,” he said. “I hope folks will keep knocking on doors and having conversations with the people in their lives about the very high stakes of this election.”