Pete Buttigieg and husband Chasten celebrate arrival of 2 adopted children

US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten, on Saturday celebrated the arrival of adopted two children to the family.

The first openly gay person to be confirmed by the Senate for a Cabinet position, Buttigieg had shared last month that the couple had become parents after seeking to adopt.

Finally, on Saturday, the couple welcomed the new members of their family as Buttigieg tweeted a photo of Chasten and him each cradling a newborn.

“Chasten and I are beyond thankful for all the kind wishes since first sharing the news that we’re becoming parents,” the secretary wrote on his personal Twitter account. “We are delighted to welcome Penelope Rose and Joseph August Buttigieg to our family.”

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One of the twins is named after Buttigieg’s father, Joseph, a Notre Dame professor who died in 2019.  

However, the 39-year-old released no other details about the babies, such as whether they are twins.

Buttigieg has talked publicly about his desire to become a father since his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

Reportedly, in July the couple had put themselves on lists to adopt a baby or babies.  

Earlier, Chasten, a part-time drama school teacher, had described how he received a call about a mother in labour wanting to place her baby for adoption. The mother then changed her mind.

“It’s a really weird cycle of anger and frustration and hope,” he said.

The couple met in 2015 on the dating app Hinge and married three years later. After being appointed to the Biden cabinet, Pete Buttigieg said: “Travel in my mind is synonymous with adventure, growth and even love, so much so that I proposed to my husband, Chasten, in an airport terminal.  

“Don’t let anyone tell you O’Hare [the Chicago airport] isn’t romantic. And let me take this chance to thank Chasten for all that he does, and for his sacrifices, to support me in pursuing public service.”

The couple were then married in June 2018.

Buttigieg has, priorly, served as the mayor of South Bend since 2012. He did not seek reelection in 2019. In 2014, he put his civic duties on hold to deploy as a US Navy intelligence officer in Afghanistan.

The Harvard-and-Oxford-educated Buttigieg is seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party but someone who lacked an obvious path to the higher elected office given the continued rightward shift of his home state of Indiana.

In March this year, lauding Buttigieg, President Joe Biden compared the former Navy officer to his late son Beau Biden. “I know that may not mean much to most people, but to me it’s the highest compliment I can give any man or woman,” Biden said at the time.