Pete Buttigieg dropped out of the presidential race, and homophobia helps explain why

Lessons from his campaign are an opportunity for us to be honest about the challenges that LGBTQ candidates face.

It seems so long ago that the first openly gay candidate won the Iowa caucuses. Mere weeks later, the Pete Buttigieg campaign is now past tense, as the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, announced Sunday that he was dropping out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Wherever that leaves Buttigieg and his future political prospects — or any future LGBTQ candidate — this moment affords us an opportunity to ask ourselves where the nation as a whole really is in terms of acceptance of LGBTQ candidates, read more at nbcnews.com.