Among the confirmations going through Congress the last week of January, Scott Bessent, an openly gay billionaire hedge fund manager and investor, was voted in as President Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary. His confirmation, approved through the Senate’s vote 68-29, into the new administration makes Bessent the highest-ranking LGBTQ+ official in United States’ history. The position places him fifth in line to the presidency, following the secretary of state.
Bessent, a South Carolina native, previously worked as a part of George Soros’ global investment firm Soros Fund Management, ultimately becoming the chief investment officer by the end of his tenure, according to a Hope Global Forums profile. He also spent several years as an adjunct professor at Yale, teaching economic history.
In an interview with Yale Alumni Magazine in 2015 Bessent offered the following thoughts: “In a certain geographic region at a certain economic level, being gay is not an issue. What’s fantastic is now, people in the rest of America, whether blue collar or white collar, have access to everything.
“If you had told me in 1984, when we graduated, and people were dying of AIDS, that 30 years later I’d be legally married and we would have two children via surrogacy, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
Bessent, who has never held public office, has a net worth of at least $521 million, according to Fortune, citing his recent financial disclosures.
Among some of the first congratulations for Bessent came from Charles Moran, the president of the Log Cabin Republicans, a conservative LGBTQ rights group. Despite recent moves from President Trump has taken against the queer community, Moran cites Bessent’s nomination for the role as a reflection of Trump’s intent to fill his administration with individuals who share his vision for the nation, regardless of their demographics.
“He just wants the best, most qualified people to serve in these positions, regardless of their sex, their gender, their sexual orientation, their religion,” said Moran, who recently announced his departure from the organization. “We’ve got record levels of diversity, not for the sake of diversity, but because these are some of the best-qualified people.”
Also addressing the confirmation was the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, which weighed in on what Bessent’s entrance into the role could mean for the queer community at large. “We need pro-equality LGBTQ+ nominees and LGBTQ+ people at all levels of government,” said Kelley Robinson, president of HRC.
LGBTQ Americans, she said, are counting on “nominees like Scott Bessent to step up for the community.”
Robinson’s hope, with Bessent’s confirmation, is that the move could be an opportunity for HRC to work “across the aisle to advance equality.” Given this sentiment, she also admitted that it “will be a tough road.”
“As was proven during Donald Trump’s previous administration and in his Project 2025 agenda, Donald Trump and his White House are a threat to the rights, freedoms, and lives of LGBTQ+ people,” Robinson said. “That will be our focus in the upcoming days, months and years ahead.”
Massachusetts Senator and LGBTQ+ ally Elizabeth Warren is among the Democrats who opposes Bessant. “A billionaire who supports more tax cuts for every single billionaire in America, ”Warren said during remarks from the Senate floor, “is not someone who is watching out for hardworking families.”
On Jan. 20, during his first hours in office, Trump signed an executive order recognizing only two sexes, male and female, and rolled back others signed by former President Biden that expanded nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people and allowed transgender Americans to serve openly in the military.
Additional material added to this story by Qnotes Staff.