Media jumps the gun, falsely claims that Pete Buttigieg is first openly gay Cabinet member

Buttigieg was selected to serve as transportation secretary in the new administration on Tuesday, Fox News reports.

"Now the same people who fawned over Buttigieg’s historic candidacy are once again declaring another 'first' accomplished by the former Indiana mayor, praising the nomination for secretary of transportation as another triumphant milestone as the first openly gay Cabinet member," Tristan Justice wrote for The Federalist.

"This time, however, such claims amount to whitewashing President Donald Trump’s promotion of his administration’s first ambassador to Germany, Ric Grenell, to serve as Director of National Intelligence from February to May this year – a Cabinet-level position," he continued.

Several major outlets published headlines with the false claim, including The Hill, Sky News, and Gay Times.

CNN's Jake Tapper carefully stepped around making a technically false claim, by saying that Buttigieg would be the first Senate-confirmed cabinet member in US history, as Grenell was not confirmed by the Senate. Other outlets also chose their wording carefully to include the "Senate-confirmed" portion of the headline so to enable themselves to side step Trump-appointed Grenell.