Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg\u00a0credits the friendly skies for uniting him and his husband, Chasten.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Appearing on \u201cLate Night with Seth Meyers\u201d this week,\u00a0the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor shared select anecdotes about his nearly three-year marriage,\u00a0including the reason he opted for a somewhat unlikely location \u2015\u00a0Chicago\u2019s O\u2019Hare International Airport \u2015 to pop the question in 2017.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that not everybody understands that O\u2019Hare can be a romantic place, but it absolutely can,\u201d\u00a0Buttigieg said Monday. \u201cThe first time Chasten and I ever communicated was on this app called Hinge, and he was sitting at Gate B5 at the airport. … I always remembered that, in a certain technical sense, even though it was remotely, that was where we first met.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Two years after that initial 2015 exchange,\u00a0the couple were visiting O\u2019Hare before embarking on a vacation, where Buttigieg had planned to propose.\u00a0And as it turns out,\u00a0air travel turned out to be a fitting metaphor for their relationship.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him\u00a0[marriage] would be a lot like being in the airport,\u201d Buttigieg recalled. \u201cLife with me would be hard to steal private moments, but also full of adventure. Luckily for me, he said yes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prior to his chat with Meyers,\u00a0Buttigieg\u00a0briefly alluded to his personal connection to O\u2019Hare in December, while accepting the nomination to serve as transportation secretary under President Joe Biden.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Touting his \u201cpersonal love of transportation,\u201d he said: \u201cTravel in my mind is synonymous with growth, with adventure, even love \u2015 so much so that I proposed to my husband Chasten in an airport terminal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t let anybody tell you that O\u2019Hare isn\u2019t romantic,\u201d he quipped.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Officials at O\u2019Hare have taken notice of Buttigieg\u2019s rare affection for the world\u2019s sixth-busiest airport.\u00a0In December, the airport thanked the transportation secretary\u00a0on Twitter \u201cfor appreciating all the connections we make possible,\u201d and pledged to work with him\u00a0\u201cas we continue to make our airport lovable for decades to come.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Both O\u2019Hare and United Airlines commemorated the site of the Buttigiegs\u2019 first meeting and subsequent engagement with heartwarming photos on social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Pete and Chasten\u2019s love story will soon be making its way to the small screen.\u00a0On Monday, Amazon Studios announced plans to release \u201cMayor Pete,\u201d\u00a0a documentary directed by Jesse Moss that will examine Buttigieg\u2019s 2020 campaign as the first openly gay presidential hopeful from a major party.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to Variety, \u201cMayor Pete\u201d promises to go behind the scenes of Buttigieg\u2019s historic victory in the Iowa caucuses,\u00a0and show him and Chasten at their Indiana home.\u00a0<\/p>\n