Everything is adorable, everything is heartbreaking, everything is terrifying. “Your heart is on the outside of your chest all the time. “Honestly, one of the hardest things for me is to not cry, like, all the time,” he says of parenthood. But mostly, he says, it’s just “hilariously messy.” It does get better.”Ĭhasten, since becoming a dad, says life has been equal parts joy and challenge. They're not defined by the opinions of other people, and it's going to be OK. They're not defined by their surroundings. One of the goals of this book is to help younger people realize that they don't owe anybody anything. I thought something was wrong with me and I held on to that pain for a really long time. “I didn't know any gay people when I was younger. “I wanted to write the book that I wish I had when I was younger,” the former middle school teacher says.

It's what inspired him to write I Have Something to Tell You-For Young Adults, an updated version of his bestselling 2020 memoir of the same name that aims to be a beacon for queer youth, he says, to remind them that “they’re not alone.” That's evidenced by an onslaught of anti-LGBTQ bills across the country targeting trans youth, drag queens, books and classrooms. But despite immense social progress, Chasten is the first to admit that the rights of queer people have always been fragile. “When we were growing up, marriage equality wasn’t a thing, so I sort of wrote that off as a dream.”Ī lot has changed since then, explains the dad (with Buttigieg) to adopted 1-year-old twins Penelope Rose and Joseph “Gus” August, as countless LGBTQ families like his have been recognized with the same benefits and legal protections as any other family. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, tells Yahoo Life. “I always wanted to be a parent, but I just assumed I wasn't allowed to be,” Buttigieg, 33, husband to U.S. Growing up gay in a small conservative town in Michigan, Chasten Buttigieg says the notion of fatherhood was way out of reach. Welcome to So Mini Ways, Yahoo Life's parenting series on the joys and challenges of childrearing.

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. Chasten Buttigieg is getting honest about the 'hilariously messy' experience of raising twins with his husband, U.S.

Good Dog, Carl by Alexandra Day