Mayor Pete Buttigieg marries longtime partner in downtown South Bend

SOUTH BEND, Ind. --- South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg married his long-time partner Chasten Glezman on Saturday.

Fr. Brian Grantz wed the couple in Downtown South Bend at the Cathedral of St. James on Lafayette Avenue. More than 600 people livestreamed the wedding ceremony on YouTube, according to Fr. Grantz.

“When you have a couple as high profile as Pete and Chasten in this community,” he said. “They are visible and they’re witnesses not simply as married people for themselves but as those who love one another in that love extending out into the world around them.”

The ceremony started at 4 p.m. and lasted for about an hour, when the couple came out as newlyweds – grinning ear to ear.

“This marriage is it’s the most important thing in our lives,” Mayor Buttigieg said.

The two left the church in a bright red, four-door Studebaker and headed to greet a crowd waiting at Pride 2018.

“It’s just nice to know that our city is full of love and we’re just so warm to be surrounded by an outpouring of love,” Glezman said.

Buttigieg spoke at the event and said they both are mindful their wedding day was not possible two years ago. He said it took courage, friendship, and love from people to make their day possible.

Fr. Grantz gave a sermon at the wedding ceremony and spoke about how Buttigieg and Glezman’s union is “right, good, holy, and needed.” He said the sermon is needed in times of strife and real struggle.

“The most important development in the life of a church is that change of heart,” he said. “That’s what allows us to expand beyond our own narrow understandings of in and out and to embrace all that God has created. That’s gay, straight, black, white, man or woman.”