Former Democratic presidential nominee Pete Buttidzic has become US Secretary of Transportation. This is the first openly gay minister in the country’s history, the Associated Press reports.
The Senate, the upper house of the US parliament, backed his candidacy, nominated by President Joe Biden. Vice President Kamala Harris, who also fought Biden for the Democratic nomination, took the oath of office from Buttidzic.
86 congressmen voted for Buttidzic, 13 were against. According to the agency, he swore an oath on the Bible, which belonged to his mother, while the book was held in the hands of his legal husband Chasthen.
Earlier it was reported that Biden would appoint male-born Rachel Levine, a physician to the Assistant Secretary of Health. She will thus become the first transgender person to be appointed to a federal office with confirmation in the Senate.