Standing in front of a crowd in the Airliner Monday, presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg offered a few words for a man thanking Buttigieg for being a role model as an openly gay politician.

"Be who you are," Buttigieg said, after admitting it's not easy to be openly gay and run for office, or be in the military, at the same time.

"Don't let them tell you that you have to choose," he said.

Buttigieg's trajectory shows he's taken those words to heart. The mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Buttigieg was deployed to Afghanistan in 2014 as a lieutenant in the Navy Reserve.

He's a millennial mayor, who was first elected at the age of 29 in 2011. He was re-elected in 2015 and is serving his eighth and final year.

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At 37 he could become both the youngest and the first openly gay president.

"For a really long time, we haven't had LGBTQ perspectives in politics," said Cody Howell, a violence prevention specialist at the Women's Resource and Action Center. "It's a really good start for LGBTQ voices in America."

Howell said he connects to Buttigieg's Midwestern roots and looks forward to seeing how he approaches women's issues.

Pat Minor, who is retired after working at the University Bookstore, said it's past the time when we should have candidates LGBTQ folks can relate to.

"I grew up in northwest Iowa. I had gay friends and I was needing to get out and I came to Iowa City," she said, adding that in Iowa City folks can more freely be who they want to be.

Emma Lantz, a criminal justice student at Mount Mercy, said it's important to her Buttigieg is openly gay.

"It's a big thing you don't see in the political system," she said.

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Lantz said Buttigieg is also the candidate she aligns with most on issues. She said she connects with his left-leaning ideas, such as healthcare for all.

Colette Brodersen, who is retired after 30 years of work at the Community Mental Health Center, said she was impressed with how educated Buttigieg is on topics ranging from the economy to healthcare and foreign policy.

She added it's taken too long for the LGBTQ community to have more representation in politics.

"It's time for everyone to be under an inclusive umbrella," she said.

As Buttigieg said himself, his start in politics was recent and at a time when it was more restrictive than today to be openly gay.

"It was a given you could either be in office or be out," he said. "But you couldn't be both."

He said it's still tough and more needs to be done such as a federal equality act and more protection for allies in the trans community.

Buttigieg's words meant a lot for at least one person in the crowd who spoke up: Liam Crawford.

"I just want to thank you so much for being such a great role model," he said. "As a gay man from the Midwest, you really give me hope. I grew up not thinking I was ever going to be able to be myself and be in public life."

Reach Hillary Ojeda at 319-339-7345, hojeda@press-citizen.com or follow her on Twitter at @hillarymojeda.