Is America ready for its first gay president?

The unexpected candidacy of the relatively unknown former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg, for the US presidency last April sparked all sorts of debate. It tended not to focus on his positions on the issues concerning America and the world, but rather on his sexual orientation. The fact that he is a homosexual raises the question of whether "conservative" America is ready for its first gay president.

Of course how conservative America is is debatable for a country that elected its first black president in 2008 and again in 2012, and also gave 3 million more votes to Hillary Clinton in 2016 than Donald Trump, effectively voting for a woman president - notwithstanding the American electoral system.

The issue is that the real discussion about Buttigieg should be whether an inexperienced 38-year-old former small-town mayor is equipped to run the world's...