A candidates’ forum to discuss the climate crisis will go on despite several of the event’s co-sponsors dropping out over an offensive article about one of the candidates because the environmental catastrophe “is simply too important to be ignored or sidelined in the 2020 presidential race.”
The presidential climate summit, which is a direct response to the DNC’s refusal to allow a debate focused on the climate crisis for the party’s two dozen primary candidates, is scheduled for September 23 in New York City.
The event was originally sponsored primarily by progressive outlets Gizmodo and The New Republic, but the latter dropped out Sunday after backlash from an article about South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg drew outrage and accusations of homophobia.
The essay, an opinions piece by openly gay writer Dale Peck, mocked Buttigieg by calling him “Mary Pete” and implying he was too promiscuous to govern the country effectively. After intense criticism, the magazine pulled the piece, saying, in an editor’s note, that “we regret its publication.”
Buttigieg, on Saturday, said he “appreciated that article was taken down.”
“I don’t think it really reflects the New Republic that I know,” said Buttigieg.
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