It was quite the turbulent week for Pete Buttigieg.

The Transportation Secretary was accused of faking his sexuality for political gain while holding the airline industry’s feet to the fire over a computer glitch that disrupted global travel. 

On July 19, a widespread computer system outage left airline passengers stranded as thousands of flights were canceled.

“I am hearing reports of some airlines only offering flight credits to passengers for cancelled flights,” Buttigieg said in a DOT statement. “Let me be clear — you are entitled to get your money back promptly if your flight is canceled, and you don’t take a rebooking.”

The disruptions were believed to be caused by a defective update to a Microsoft Windows program operated by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. The DOT moved quickly, putting out a travel advisory that put airlines on notice as to expectations for passenger protections during the downtime.

Prior to the global IT outage, conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, citing one of his producers as a source, said Buttigieg was not gay.

“My producer’s like, ‘No, it’s totally pose. He was dating women just a few years ago. That’s totally fake. He’s not gay at all,” Carlson told his online audience. 

Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, came out in 2015 and married Chasten Glezman, a school teacher, in 2018. The couple adopted newborn twins in 2021 during which time Buttigieg took a two-month paternity leave, much to the dismay of far-right Republicans.

Buttigieg did not respond to Carlson’s comments, but GLAAD called the remarks, “ridiculous.”