Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg wants the leaders of countries with anti-LGBTQ laws to know they better get used to the idea of a gay U.S. president.

The South Bend, Indiana mayor was asked at a town hall event at Decorah High School, in Decorah, Iowa, how he intends to "deal with international leaders from countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia where it's illegal to be gay."

Saudia Arabia is one of more than 70 countries where it is illegal to engage in same-sex sexual activity. It punishes the "offense" with the death penalty. Russia, on the other hand, has not made it illegal to have gay sex, but does have an anti-gay "propaganda" law penalizing teaching minors about the existence of LGBTQ identities, which has been used to break up Pride marches and demonstrations. The semi-autonomous region of Chechnya, which is a federal subject of Russia, has reportedly been detaining, abusing, and even killing LGBTQ people.

"So, they’re going to have to get used to it," Buttigieg told those gathered at the town hall event on Saturday. The response brought cheers and applause unmatched by any other response he gave that night, the Washington Blade reports.

“One great thing about America is that when we’re at our best, we have challenged places around the world to acknowledge freedom, and include more people in more ways,” Buttigieg continued. “And whether it is by policy or just by example, America is at her best when we have done that.”

"Not every country is there, and my real concern is not how those leaders are going to treat me—they’ll treat me as the president of the United States, and we'll interact as nations do. The problem, of course, is how people are being treated in those countries,” he added.

"And while we can't intervene in every country and make them be good to their people, I do believe that one big step forward would be for a country like the United States to be led by somebody that people in those other countries can look to and know that they're not alone."

And here's the video...

Q: How do you intend to deal with countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia where it's illegal to be gay?@PeteButtigieg: "So they're gonna have to get used to it."

*Crowd applauds for 27 seconds. pic.twitter.com/7Vjer01ni0

— Justin Gomez (@JustinGomezABC) November 3, 2019

While Buttigieg didn't specifically mention President Donald Trump, his comment seems to suggest that currently those countries do not have a leader they can look to in America that allows them to feel confident that their rights are seen as important.

Trump has a less than stellar LGBTQ rights record, to say the least, and while his administration has declared the goal of decriminalizing homosexuality worldwide, there has so far been little if any movement in that direction, and when initially asked about the initiative the president seemed to be unaware of it.