Right-wing podcaster Jesse Kelly went after Democratic Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten by making an anti-LGBTQ+ crack about family values.
However, he immediately discovered his bigotry was no match for Twitter.
Kelly shared a black and white photo from Buttigieg's September 2021 post announcing the addition to the family with adopted twins Joseph "Gus" August and Penelope Rose.
In an attempt to stir up some conservative outrage, Kelly made a cryptic homophobic comment suggesting the same-sex couple raising a family was contributing to the moral demise of the country.
He tweeted:
“I can’t think of a single image that better explains where our country is now. If there is one, I’d like to see it."
He said of the image of Buttigieg adoringly looking at his husband while holding their twin babies:
"This is just… exactly what we’ve become.”
However, Kelly's feeble attempt at ramping up conservative outrage all but sputtered.
Instead of receiving backup for his pathetic cause, Kelly was quickly shot down by those who saw nothing wrong in the loving photo–including former GOP Rep. Joe Walsh, who responded with:
"I mean this with all due respect @JesseKellyDC, but what do you find so objectionable about this image?"
"I’m genuinely curious as to what you see here because I see only love. Thanks."
\u201cI mean this with all due respect @JesseKellyDC, but what do you find so objectionable about this image? I\u2019m genuinely curious as to what you see here because I see only love. Thanks.\u201d— Joe Walsh (@Joe Walsh) 1677767261
Walsh–who served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Illinois's 8th congressional district–was a Republican who previously supported his party's former President, Donald Trump.
But after increasingly becoming frustrated over the twice-impeached President's opportunistic views of politics and the damaging influence on the party, Walsh announced his bid to be Trump's presidential challenger in 2019.
Walsh told the Des Moines Register in January 2020:
“I think it’s important that there’s a Republican out there every day who says, ‘This is not my Republican Party."
"This is not what I believe in. I'm not cruel. I’m not bigoted."
He eventually dropped out of the race in February 2020 due to a poor showing in the Iowa Caucus, left the Republican party, and endorsed the winning Democratic President Joe Biden.
People responded positively to Walsh's clap back of Kelly's post–with many of them expressing that same-sex parents have been successfully and lovingly raising families all along.
\u201c@WalshFreedom @JesseKellyDC Gay people have been raising kids forever, often adopting kids from abusive homes. Gay teens, kicked on the streets by their own families have been taken in by gay relatives. Kids need a loving home with loving parents. This isn't new.\u201d— Joe Walsh (@Joe Walsh) 1677767261
Many continued agreeing with Walsh.
\u201c@WalshFreedom @joncoopertweets @JesseKellyDC I see 2 lucky babies and 2 great loving parents and lots of love.....\nThat's what I see......\u201d— Joe Walsh (@Joe Walsh) 1677767261
\u201c@WalshFreedom @JesseKellyDC I\u2019ll take the Buttegieg family and the Loving family over this family of grifters any day of the week. \ud83d\ude09\ud83d\udc47\u201d— Joe Walsh (@Joe Walsh) 1677767261
\u201c@WalshFreedom @MalcolmNance @JesseKellyDC I see two infants who are going to be well-loved and well-cared-for by the two humans holding them. Beautiful. That is just what America should be.\n#LoveIsLove\u201d— Joe Walsh (@Joe Walsh) 1677767261
\u201c@WalshFreedom @JesseKellyDC There's heterosexual couples in this country that don't have anywhere near the amount of love and affection that these two have for their kids. Or for each other.\u201d— Joe Walsh (@Joe Walsh) 1677767261
While others slammed Kelly with a heap of sarcasm for his homophobia.
\u201c@WalshFreedom @JesseKellyDC Yes, nice isn't it @JesseKellyDC . Two people who love each other wanted a child to love so they adopted twins that were born unwanted or unable for their birth mother to care for them. They step up and gave them love and a home. Have you done anything close to this? I doubt it.\u201d— Joe Walsh (@Joe Walsh) 1677767261
\u201c@JesseKellyDC Oh no! Babies are loved and cared for! This is somehow bad.\u201d— Jesse Kelly (@Jesse Kelly) 1677766543
There were those who didn't have patience for Kelly.
\u201c@NoLieWithBTC @JesseKellyDC Who are "WE" Jesse? You have become gay from watching a loving family, Is that what you are saying? \n\nAttacking two caring gay parents is unacceptable. LGBTQ+ parents and children have similar well-being and developmental outcomes to the general population.\u201d— Jesse Kelly (@Jesse Kelly) 1677766543
\u201c@JesseKellyDC A loving family upsets you? I'll say it again, the right's continual obsession with Pete tells me one thing: they fear him. It's quite obvious now.\u201d— Jesse Kelly (@Jesse Kelly) 1677766543
\u201c@JesseKellyDC This is a beautiful image and I am thrilled for both of them.\n\nI honestly struggle to see why this would bother a single soul. And if it does, you need to ask yourself why joy enrages you.\u201d— Jesse Kelly (@Jesse Kelly) 1677766543
\u201c@WalshFreedom @JesseKellyDC Two human beings who clearly love each other, holding their babies? That's all there is to see here, folks...move along.\u201d— Joe Walsh (@Joe Walsh) 1677767261
\u201c@JesseKellyDC Here is a picture of how bad it has become\u201d— Jesse Kelly (@Jesse Kelly) 1677766543
Kelly is notorious for repeatedly spouting his anti-LGBTQ+ views.
The podcaster once told fellow homophobe and Fox News host Tucker Carlson:
"We don’t need a military that’s woman-friendly, that’s gay-friendly.”
In 2022, he ranted about America being "awful" after the U.S. men's soccer team stood up for the LGBTQ+ community by displaying rainbow flags at the training facility during the World Cup in Qatar–where homosexual acts are punishable by imprisonment and death.
Kelly said at the time he would "be actively rooting against Team USA” and will “pick another country that doesn’t embrace this degeneracy.”
He also joined conservatives waging a war against the Trevor Project–which helps prevent LGBTQ+ youth suicide by providing with them resources including a hotline.
In a deleted tweet from April 27, 2022, Kelly wrote:
“They’re trying to break your children."
