Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay Democratic candidate for president, has been deftly turning opposition to his and other same-sex marriages to his political advantage.

Whether it’s right-wing protesters interrupting his stump speeches or prominent social conservatives who reject LGBT rights such as Vice President Mike Pence, Buttigieg likes to tell them their quarrel is with his creator.

Early in the presidential race, his eloquence and his background — a well-educated, young, gay war veteran — have made him the talk of national pundits. But as the campaign turns toward winning over primary voters, he faces an uncomfortable truth.

Many African Americans and Latinos, important segments of the Democratic base, harbor long-held concerns about marriage equality and other LGBT rights. IndyStar reached out to more than a dozen religious, political, academic and community leaders to discuss this issue. The consensus is that attitudes are changing but also that it very much remains a challenge for Buttigieg's campaign.

Polling backs that up. Support for same-sex marriage among African Americans and Hispanics is well below the three-quarters of Democrats overall who do.

Winning over minority voters could be key to winning the primary. In 2016, Bernie Sanders struggled to reach African American voters after initially forming an all-white leadership team and campaigning heavily in states with less diversity, never recovering in his loss to eventual nominee Hillary Clinton.

Like Sanders, Buttigieg so far has struggled to connect with minority voters, recently polling near zero percent among black voters in South Carolina. The reasons likely vary. He had a sometimes-bumpy relationship with African Americans in South Bend, where he demoted the city’s first black police chief and demolished hundreds of vacant houses. He's running in a crowded field that includes two prominent African American senators.

But it’s also clear from IndyStar's interviews that some voters are still reconciling their religious views with LGBT rights.

The Rev. Rodric Reid, an elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, said he would warmly welcome same-sex couples to his Indianapolis congregation, but as it stands now, AME pastors aren’t authorized to officiate their weddings, a position he supports based on his understanding of scripture.

Still, he would vote for a gay candidate with whom he otherwise agrees — and encourage others to do so. He’s uncertain how many would.

“I guarantee it’s going to be an obstacle for the candidate from South Bend,” he said. “That is really still a touchy subject, specifically and especially in the African American church. Now, I think it could be overcome, because we are gradually getting to a point of, and I don’t want to say 'accept,' but we are getting to a point of realizing this is the culture that we are going to have to begin to live with and adapt to it.”

Many of the people IndyStar interviewed, including pastors, parishioners, scholars, politicians and voters, said they felt Buttigieg needs to do a better job of reaching out to African Americans and Latinos to explain how he can help.

Buttigieg has met publicly and privately with black leaders in important primary states and begun to flesh out political positions to fight racial inequality, including access to higher education, better jobs and criminal justice reform. Still, several people whom IndyStar interviewed said the mayor needs to reach more voters of color where they live, work and worship.

"I think he has to reach out to, especially, African American women, he needs to be reaching out to women’s groups at black churches and be clear on his policies," said Anthea Butler, a professor of Africana and religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania. “If you don’t know how to talk to the African American community, you just aren’t going to make inroads, gay or not.”

Buttigieg and his campaign didn't comment for this story, but his campaign pointed toward remarks he has made on the trail where he acknowledges he's speaking to mostly white crowds and needs to do more to reach people of color.

"I also need your help shaping the base of supporters we are building to not only help this campaign but to also shape it," he told a largely white crowd in May in North Charleston, South Carolina, where African Americans are nearly half the population, according to ABC News. "To find people who perhaps do not look like you."

'A more literal and conservative' Bible

Much like white evangelicals, the views of many African Americans and Latinos are shaped in part by the churches they attend. In many instances, clergy teach a literal view of the Bible.

“Many communities of color, including African American Christians and Latino Catholics have tended to have a more literal and conservative reading of the biblical narrative, believing word for word what it says,” said Joseph Tucker Edmonds, an assistant professor of Africana and religious studies at Indiana University at Indianapolis.

“As a result, many African American and Latino congregations have been more critical and less likely to support gay and lesbian candidates."

And perhaps just as importantly, he said, highlighting a sentiment expressed by religious leaders IndyStar interviewed, there’s a question among the African American and Latino faithful of whether gay candidates would push LGBT concerns over more general issues of social justice. Buttigieg's positions on issues important to minorities, he said, will need to be earnest and clear.

"They are primarily concerned with racial inequality, educational access and economic mobility," Tucker Edmonds said.

The impact of those long-held views has been clear. In 2008, polling data suggests, 58 percent of African Americans and 53 percent of Hispanics voted for a ban on same-sex marriage that passed in California.

Some pastors at historically black churches also were troubled in 2012 when then-President Barack Obama, who once opposed same-sex marriage for religious reasons, changed his stance to support it. Many tried to convince him to re-examine that position, and a few campaigned against him. The president, though, said the times were changing and so were attitudes, including his own.

As the nation’s first black president, Obama transcended that single issue and still won over the vast majority of minority voters to clear the way for a second term.

With more than eight months before the first 2020 nominating contest, the Rev. David Greene said Buttigieg isn’t even on the radar for his congregation at Second Baptist Church/Purpose of Life Ministries in Indianapolis.

Like Reid, he said he won’t perform a same-sex wedding because of his interpretation of the Bible. Also like Reid, he said he’d vote for the best candidate regardless of that person's sexual orientation, but he also acknowledges members of his congregation would feel differently.

“I think it’s going to be a challenge,” Greene said. "It’s something he’s going to have to grapple with.”

Religion-based skepticism about LGBT rights goes beyond historically black churches and Latino congregations. The pope has been grappling with the issue. The United Methodist Church, the nation’s second-largest Protestant church, is reeling after a divisive vote in February to strengthen its ban on same-sex marriage.

Reid thinks the AME church will have to confront the issue of same-sex marriage soon, and he’s not sure how it will go.

“Our doctrine clearly states we are not to perform same-sex marriages and that has not been challenged on the legislative floor, but I believe the time is very near where it will be. I have personally stated that if a same-sex marriage couple came to my congregation, they would be welcomed, they would be loved, they would be cherished as fellow brothers or sisters in Christ, but that does not change my message of what I preach.”

Black Christians have interpreted the Bible before. They can again.

There's room in historically black churches for a less literal reading of the Bible, said Anthony Pinn, a professor at Rice University who has written extensively about African Americans and religion.

The fact that African Americans founded churches to fight for racial equality, he said, inherently meant pushing past literal interpretations of biblical passages once used to normalize slavery.

More progressive churches, he said, argue that Jesus Christ’s message of love supersedes many rules found in the Old Testament, arguing those passages hearken to a different era. That's a stance more conservative churches could also adopt, he thinks.

But for now, he said, biblical concerns exist over LGBT rights and that will impact Buttigieg's candidacy.

“The Democratic base still contains a lot of African American Christians who have a rather messy relationship with issues of sexuality,” he said.

Ultimately, he thinks, historically black churches will have to change or die.

“I think that black churches will struggle for numbers and some that are more forward-thinking will rethink their theology and social positions and others will double down and say they are right and if people don’t like that, it’s OK, because it’s not about numbers (of parishioners), it’s about righteousness. Those churches will wither and die.”

Support for same-sex marriage continues to grow

Buttigieg's campaign doesn't have far to look to see progress.

Lori Lightfoot was recently sworn in as Chicago's mayor. She defeated several more politically established candidates to become the first openly gay and first African-American woman to lead the Windy City.

While many of those whom the IndyStar interviewed said the reception might be different in more conservative areas, especially in the South, it’s clear that support for same-sex marriage has been growing over the past decade.

Pew Research conducted a survey March 20-25 that shows support increased significantly among African Americans, Hispanics and whites over the past decade before leveling off in 2017. Now, 51 percent of African Americans and 58 percent of Hispanics support same-sex marriage, compared to 61 percent of all Americans. In general, there's more support from younger, versus older, Americans.

Some of the starkest contrasts are by church groups. Only 44 percent of black Protestants support same-sex marriage, compared to 61 percent of Catholics of all races, 68 percent of white Protestants and 79 percent of unaffiliated Americans. The least support exists among white evangelicals, at 29 percent.

The Rev. Cedric Harmon, who is the executive director of Many Voices, a coalition of historically black churches that seeks LGBT equality, pointed out support is growing in those institutions. In 2008, when the California initiative to ban same-sex marriage was before voters, only 24 percent of black Protestants supported the idea, according to the poll.

He's taken a leading role in trying to convince the faithful to support LGBT rights. Challenges go beyond Bible-based teachings. Some African Americans, he said, take offense at LGBT rights being likened to the long and perilous post-slavery fight for black civil rights.

But Harmon, who has been keeping an eye on Buttigieg's campaign, thinks those obstacles can be cleared. The more important factor for Buttigieg, he said, will be explaining how he can help their communities. He thinks the mayor has done a good job of pivoting to his record when asked about being gay.

African American voters also don't tend to be single-issue voters, he said, echoing the sentiments of others who spoke to IndyStar.

“It cannot be dismissed that as an openly gay, married, white male seeking the highest office in the country, that African Americans are going to take a very serious and hard, thoughtful look,” Harmon said. “It’s not like the African American community is monolithic. There are those that are in support and those that are theologically opposed to LGBTQ rights and those that are still learning."

Latino support grows as a new generation comes of age

That evolution is also happening among many Latino voters.

The Washington, D.C.-based League of United Latin American Citizens, a 90-year-old nonprofit that advocates for Latino civil rights, also has been embracing LGBT rights.

Executive Director Sindy Marisol Benavides, a Honduran-American immigrant, said support for LGBT rights among Latinos is growing, especially as generations shift. She also made the point it's not a monolithic community.

She said many Latino voters are concerned with the actions and adversarial tone of the current presidential administration. Many, she said, are looking for candidates who would not only advocate for issues important to them, such as immigration reform, jobs and access to education and health care, but who would also do more to embrace diversity.

"You have to look at the political climate and understand when you look at the American public, and particularly Latinos, we want someone who is effective and efficient and will be a problem-solver. When we look at the different presidential candidates, there may be a segment within the community — but I think that would be true even among the general American public — that will take into account his sexual orientation.

"In terms of the candidate, he is definitely outside of the Beltway, his military track record speaks for itself, and the fact that he is really, I want to say opening his arms to the community, is really important. We will continue to see what he does and how he contends in this race with the other 23 candidates."

Many churches already embrace LGBT rights

Support from religious quarters has also been growing, and certain Protestant sects have embraced LGBT rights.

The Rev. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis said the denomination performs same-sex marriages and welcomes gay clergy. Buttigieg is also Episcopalian, though in a different diocese.

The church pushes for social change, and Baskerville-Burrows will be marching in the Indy Pride festival June 8. She hopes more people of faith learn to embrace others no matter whom they love.

“We believe God looks at us and loves us each and all equally,” she said, “and we are hoping to get closer to actually treating each other the way God treats us.”

Prominent figures have added their voices to that chorus. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, during a recent conversation with the IndyStar editorial board, said he thinks times are changing and respect is quickly growing for LGBT rights.

“I think it’s becoming less of an issue than it once was,” he said. “Just as the race barrier came down in ways that we could not imagine in 50 years, this is another barrier that is falling. Most everybody that I know has a gay person in their family, in their church, in their neighborhood, in their school.”

Indianapolis breaks its own barriers

Central Indiana voters have elected two openly gay candidates to office.

Democrat Zach Adamson, who is gay and of Mexican descent, has won two terms on the Indianapolis City-County Council. Democrat J.D. Ford defeated a prominent Republican social conservative to win a seat in the state House of Representatives that represents a large chunk of Indianapolis and a slice of more conservative Hamilton County.

Both have knocked on hundreds of doors and found voters to be welcoming.

Adamson said he thinks voters are embracing LGBT rights in large numbers regardless of race and it’s mostly a generational barrier for those still harboring issues. He and his husband had five clergy members preside at their wedding, including Buddhist, missionary Baptist, Presbyterian, Jewish and their own Protestant church.

“It isn’t an issue with God,” he said. “I think occasionally it’s an issue with organized religion.”

Ford looks forward to a time when sexual orientation isn’t talked about even as he acknowledges it’s an issue for some voters.

“Why does it have to be 'J.D. Ford, the gay Democrat in the race?'” he asked. "I’ve always thought to myself, 'Why isn’t the person I‘m running against referred to as the heterosexual Republican?'

"I feel like we’re caged in these boxes, and I long for the day when people judge Mayor Pete and myself on what we are doing rather than the labels we are wearing.”

As mayor, Buttigieg has had a mixed record on race

It's clear Republicans realize Buttigieg is struggling to reach minority voters.

"Pete Buttigieg might be taking the ‘What, me worry?’ approach of Alfred E. Neuman towards his diversity issues for his presidential bid," Republican National Committee spokesperson Michael Joyce said in a recent news release, echoing President Donald Trump's comparison of the mayor to the Mad magazine mascot, "but his poll numbers among the black community in South Carolina should be a pause for concern."

In South Bend, he has a mixed record. He faced questions his first year in office after demoting the city's popular, first African American police chief, Darryl Boykins, over his handling of an illegal police phone-tapping incident that drew the attention of federal authorities. Boykins, who has denied wrongdoing, eventually sued and settled with the city out of court, with neither side admitting fault.

Buttigieg also started a program to demolish 1,000 vacant homes in 1,000 days. Community advocates in poorer, often African-American or Hispanic neighborhoods soon began to complain that the city was being too aggressive in fining property owners, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars, and demolishing buildings over code enforcement issues. Years into the program, however, many credited Buttigieg with listening to their concerns and altering course to help qualified property owners fix, instead of lose, houses.

Larry Sabato, a national pundit at the University of Virginia, said Buttigieg has a number of issues to overcome with people of color.

"He's the classic, privileged white male," Sabato said. "He doesn't have position papers so much as he has sound bites. Could the fact that he's gay discourage some from turning out? Probably. I just don't know how many. But it might make a difference in swing states."

Buttigieg has been pivoting to reach out to community leaders, especially in states with early primaries such as South Carolina, where the Democratic base includes many African Americans. He's one of several Democratic candidates to meet with the Rev. Eric Manning, pastor at Charleston's Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina, site of a horrific shooting nearly four years ago. He also met with the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Tampa attorney Sean Shaw, the first black attorney general nominee in Florida's history, is endorsing Buttigieg, which could be a factor in an important swing state.

He's also held roundtables with black leaders and activists in Charleston and at South Carolina State University. And he's appeared on Spanish-language American networks Telemundo and Univision, speaking in both English and Spanish, on topics that include Trump's policies and his own emerging platform.

Many leaders who talked to IndyStar felt Buttigieg’s higher hurdle will be winning the Democratic nomination. Former Vice President Joe Biden has an established record and is polling well, and they say two black candidates, U.S. Sens. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, may appeal to minority voters. Buttigieg has been polling in the mid- to high single digits.

If Buttigieg does prevail during the primaries, many told IndyStar, they think the majority — though many doubted all — African American and Latino Democrats would get behind him.

Some were more hopeful than others. Joe Smith, who worked for several prominent Indiana Democrats — U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh and governors Evan Bayh and Frank O’Bannon — thinks having someone with Buttigieg’s talents would be a breath of fresh air.

Smith said his eyes were opened 12 years ago when his nephew, who is now married, sat family members down to say he is gay. Smith, an African American Catholic, said he’s squared his support of LGBT issues with his faith. He thinks the majority of voters have a friend or family member who happens to be gay. Views are changing along with the times, he said.

“I would suspect a small, small minority, some of the old, staunch Catholics and blacks, will withhold their support,” said Smith. “I just think that, as a nation, we should be exposed to persons who are different from us, just as we welcomed Barack Obama.”

Call IndyStar reporter Chris Sikich at 317-444-6036. Follow him on Twitter: @ChrisSikich.