Who Is Rhyan Glezman? Why Mayor Pete Buttigieg's Brother-In-Law Says He Isn't Fit For Office
Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten have millions of fans. Chasten's brother isn't among them.
Washington Examiner America has fallen hard for Chasten Buttigieg, the former drama teacher married to Democratic presidential hopeful and Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg. Between his open demeanor and his frequent social media posts of the couple’s adorable rescue dogs, Chasten has gained legions of social media fans and broken new ground as the first same-sex spouse of a national political candidate.
In a profile from last year, Buttigieg talked about his family and growing up gay in Traverse City, Michigan. He shared stories about the trouble his family had accepting the truth about his sexuality, and the strained relationships he still has with his brothers.
However, one of his two older brothers, Rhyan Glezman, had attempted to counter the story Chasten tells, saying the profile wasn’t an accurate account of the family’s story. In addition, Glezman is now attacking his brother's husband over recent comments he has made and accusing the presidential candidate of being "anti-God."
Who is Rhyan Glezman and what does he have to say about his brother and brother-in-law, Pete Buttigieg?
Glezman's assessment has come after a pivotal time as the Democratic debate in Las Vegas was just held this week, and Buttigieg was already making news for his dispute with fellow presidential hopeful Amy Klobuchar over immigration.
Buttigieg had commented that Klobuchar was “not able to speak to literally the first thing about the politics of the country to our south.” This came after an interview in which Klobuchar reportedly forgot the name of the Mexican president.
Klobuchar, however, wasn't one to stand down. She fired back at Buttigieg, saying, “I wish everyone was as perfect as you, Pete. I’m so proud of the work I’ve done on immigration reform. And you know what? You have not been in the arena doing that work. You’ve memorized a bunch of talking points and a bunch of things.”
So, let's dive in to who Rhyan Glezman is, his comments about his brother, and his thoughts about Pete Buttigieg.
1. Chasten Buttigieg has a strained relationship with his family, especially his brothers.
The profile of Chasten reveals a story of a working-class boy growing up in the Midwest. When his older brother was outdoors playing sports, he says, “I would be inside reading Harry Potter or singing Celine Dion at the top of my lungs while my mom and I were dusting the cabinets.”
By the time he was an adolescent, he realized he was attracted to men and he had faced homophobic bullying from his peers even before he came out. It was only after spending his senior years of high school abroad that he came to terms with his sexuality and eventually shared the news with his family.
His parents struggled with the information and he felt that his brothers were hostile to him after coming out. He decided to leave home at that point.
Chasten is openly gay and married to presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg.
2. Buttigieg eventually reconciled with his parents, but still has a complicated relationship with his brothers.
Buttigieg recalls spending a period of time couch-surfing and occasionally sleeping in his car while working and attending community college. Eventually, his mother called and asked him to come home, which he did, gladly. He and his parents worked out their differences and, eventually, his father would walk him down the aisle at his wedding to South Bend mayor Peter Buttigieg.
But he says his relationship with his brothers was never the same. “We never got over it," Chasten revealed. His older brother, Rhyan, a Christian pastor, is quoted as saying, “I want the best for him. I just don’t support the gay lifestyle.”
3. Glezman spoke out about his brother's comments, saying they were all a ploy for his husband's political campaign.
Now, Glezman has his own profile in the conservative outlet the Washington Examiner, an online-only publication. He says the original profile misrepresents his family and that it’s all a ploy for political gain.
“A mayor from a small city and his husband, a child who grew up with nothing and his parents kicked him out... it makes a perfect political story for the campaign. To me that’s very sad. If that’s all you have to stand on, you’re not fit to be President of the United States,” he said.
Glezman also feels that Buttigieg's politics are out of step with his own beliefs, adding, “When you want to rewrite the Electoral College, when you want to change the makeup of the Supreme Court, when you want to have open borders and not have any process there, his extreme view on abortion... those are things that are very important to me.”
4. Who is Rhyan Glezman? He's a conservative pastor.
Glezman, who is currently a pastor in Michigan and voted for Donald Trump in 2016, claims to have nothing against his brother personally and doesn’t contradict the quote published about not agreeing with “the gay lifestyle,” a phrase often used by people who think homosexuality is a choice, not a biological trait.
He told the Examiner that he objects to same sex marriage on the grounds that it somehow goes against his “Biblical interpretation” of what marriage is supposed to be. Same-sex marriage has been legal throughout America since 2015.
5. Glezman has refuted almost everything his brother said in the profile article.
Glezman objects to the whole tone of profile, saying that his family was far less poor than the article seemed to suggest. He claims the picture it paints is his brother playing the “victim card” to gain support for his husband's campaign.
Then, Glezman played his own version of the victim card saying, “I believe for me, as a Christian, we’re the people being shunned, people being silenced, and a lot of the liberal side of things are becoming the bigots to Christianity and faith.”
Despite assertions that he still loves his brother, Glezman says he won’t vote for his brother-in-law in 2020.
Glezman plays his own "victim card."
6. Glezman is now accusing Pete Buttigieg of being "anti-God."
Glezman has seemingly continued to maintain his stance against his brother's husband, now attacking the presidential hopeful over recent comments he made about Donald Trump and Christianity.
Glezman appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight and stated, "Just everything that Pete is pushing... it's anti-God. I'm just gonna be honest with you. Nothing lines up with Scripture for him to make cases like to say that you cannot be a Christian and vote for Trump. He's the one that is openly contradicting God's word over and over."
Glezman also said it was "the height of intellectual dishonesty for Pete to make claims that there's no compatibility with being a Christian and voting for Trump. Pete, in fact, is the one who is pushing agendas and rhetoric that is against, clearly against Scripture."
His remarks are in reaction to Buttigieg's answer to a question he was asked on CNN about Trump and religion. Buttigieg was asked, "Do you think that it's impossible to be a Christian and support Trump?" Buttigieg then replied, "I'm not going to tell other Christians how to be Christian. But I will say I cannot find any compatibility between the way this president conducts himself and anything I find in Scripture."
7. Glezman has also spoken out on Buttigieg's views on abortion.
Glezman didn't stop there. He continued to disagree with Buttigieg, but this time on a different subject. When shown an interview clip of his brother-in-law speaking out on partial-birth abortion, Glezman went on yet another rant against Buttigieg.
Buttigieg had said, "But my point is that it shouldn't be up to a government official to draw the line. It should be up to the woman who's confronted."
Glezman replied to the comments, saying, "I'm just in a state of lament when you hear that we have someone running for commander in chief who can't make a moral decision on whether to keep a child after it's already been born or to have it killed. What kind of moral suggestions is he going to be given if he can't come to an understanding of that? It's just, it's alarming."
Glezman has also claimed that he has received hate mail and death threats after it was revealed that he had a falling out with his brother after finding out about his sexuality.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. Her work has been seen at Ravishly, Babble, Scary Mommy, The Mid, Redbook online, and The Broad Side.