A fear of many Americans is going to become a reality in less than two weeks: On Jan. 20, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th President of the United States. Despite a less than glamorous exit in 2020, highlighted by election denying, an attempted violent overthrow of government, and a second impeachment, Trump is set to return to the Oval Office.
Along with the controversial president comes an even more controversial set of cabinet picks, each of whom have their own record of where they stand on various issues and political topics. Some of these handpicked officials have an extensive history of not only turning their back to marginalized communities, but of demonizing, degrading and demeaning LGBTQ+ Americans and their allies.
In this column, Qnotes looks at a handful of Trump’s cabinet picks we believe have the potential to be the most harmful to America’s queer and trans community. Here is what we found:
Marco Rubio — Secretary of State
Qnotes dove into the Florida U.S. Senator’s LGBTQ+ record when it was speculated he was a potential vice president and running mate for Trump. Rubio has been called out multiple times by LGBTQ+ advocates and organizations, and for good reason.
In 2022, the Human Rights Campaign released a statement saying Rubio received a “score of 0 out of 100” for his HRC Congressional Scorecard for the 117th Congress, which scored members of Congress based on a range of indicators regarding their support for the LGBTQ+ support.
“He has a dismal voting record, supports restrictive abortions laws, and opposes marriage equality and nondiscrimination protections,” said then Human Rights Campaign National Campaign Director Geoff Wetrosky. “And, on more than one occasion, Rubio has used anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric that makes clear he doesn’t care about LGBTQ+ people and our families.”
Rubio faced criticism for calling the Respect for Marriage Act a “stupid waste of time,” and then he went on to vote against the act, which passed bipartisanly.
According to the GLAAD Accountability Project, Rubio also has targeted drag, falsely claiming it exposed children to “sexually charged content.” He has also opposed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which makes it illegal to discriminate in hiring or firing employees based on their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
Scott Bessent — Secretary of the Treasury
It’s important to note Trump’s second administration could see the first out gay Treasury Secretary and first LGBTQ+ person nominated to a cabinet position by a Republican president — hedge fund manager Scott Bessent. Bessent is the founder of Key Square Capital Management and is affiliated with George Soros — a liberal philanthropist who donates billions of dollars to progressive causes — serving as chief investment officer for Soros’ fund in the past.
Bessent served as the economic advisor to Trump during his 2024 campaign in addition to donating millions to Trump’s reelection efforts. It was reported by CNBC Bessent was likely selected as he supports most of Trump’s proposed economic policies, such as tariffs and deregulation of multiple industries.
“Scott has long been a strong advocate of the America First Agenda,” Trump said in a statement. “On the eve of our Great Country’s 250th Anniversary, he will help me usher in a new Golden Age for the United States, as we fortify our position as the world’s leading economy, center of innovation and entrepreneurialism, destination for capital, while always, and without question, maintaining the U.S. dollar as the reserve currency of the world.”
Republican congressional representatives are working in the upcoming legislative session to give Trump abilities to strip the nonprofit status of entities deemed to be “harmful” to the American people, which could include LGBTQ+ advocacy groups. If this were to come to fruition, such statements would have to be made by the Treasury Department.
Pete Hegseth — Secretary of Defense
The Fox News host was one of the first named to the Trump cabinet, and since then, scandal and controversy has tarnished Hegseth’s legacy and name before he’s even stepped into office.
Hegseth attended Princeton University, and while there, he served as the publisher of the school’s conservative paper. He contributed plenty of editorial content, including an op-ed where Hegseth wrote “the homosexual lifestyle is abnormal and immoral.” He then joined the Minnesota Army National Guard, where he rose to the rank of major. Deployed three times, Hegseth served in Guantánamo Bay, was a platoon leader in Iraq and later taught counterinsurgency tactics in Afghanistan. His military honors include two Bronze Stars.
However, Hegseth has found himself facing an uphill Senate confirmation process after the release of his 2024 book showcased demeaning rhetoric toward women and LGBTQ+ folks who served in the military. According to reporting from The Advocate, “Hegseth criticized the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, lamenting what he called a loss of military cohesion and effectiveness.”l
In his book, “The War on Warriors,” Hegseth recalled when his commanding officer briefed him and his comrades on the reversal of the policy barring openly gay people from serving in armed forces.
“Our commander briefed the unit, peppered with a few jokes,” he wrote. “You know, infantry stuff. We mostly laughed it off and moved on. America was at war. Gays and lesbians were already serving in the military. I had seen the enemy with my own eyes. We needed everybody.”
However, Hegseth revealed he “regretted” being so open minded to the policy.
“Not because I have a newfound axe to grind with gay Americans,” he wrote, “but because I naively believed that’s what ending ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ was all about. Once again, our good faith was used against us. The Left never gives an inch and always takes a mile.”
Pam Bondi — Attorney General
Bondi hails from Florida, where she served as the Sunshine State’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019. However, life was not sunshine and happiness for queer and trans Floridians during Bondi’s tenure.
The former attorney general has ties to several Scientologists — whose organization has a history of abusing its LGBTQ+ members. She also has very close ties to Trump, as Bondi received an illegal donation of $25,000 from the Trump Foundation. Her LGBTQ+ record is just as suspect as Bondi’s connections to Scientology or her alleged breaking of the law.
During her first term, Bondi opposed marriage equality, arguing same-sex partnerships and marriages “impose serious public harm” in a 2014 court case. Two years later, however, Bondi attempted to repaint herself as an ally in the aftermath of the Pulse Nightclub shooting, saying the shooter would be “punished to the full extent of the law.”
CNN’s Anderson Cooper grilled Bondi on her sudden shift, calling her out for trying to save face.
“Ms. Bondi’s big complaint seems to be that I asked in the wake of a massacre of gay and lesbian citizens about her new statements about the gay community and about her old ones,” Cooper said at the time. “Ms. Bondi is championing efforts to help survivors, but the very right that allows gay spouses to bury their loved ones — that’s a right that wouldn’t exist if she had her way.”
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. — Secretary of Health and Human Services
A man who needs no introduction, Kennedy has become synonymous with the anti-vaccine movement and medical misinformation overall. Now, he’s set to become the person in charge of formulating the United States’ policies on medical and health related policy. On Jan. 9, over 17,000 doctors signed a letter urging the Senate to reject Kennedy as the health secretary, citing him as “unqualified to lead” and “actively dangerous.”
One of the concerning beliefs held by Kennedy relates to HIV and AIDS, both of which disproportionately impact LGBTQ+ Americans. Kennedy has promoted the falsehood that HIV isn’t the cause of AIDS, instead attributing the cause of the autoimmune disease to amyl nitrite — aka poppers — and lifestyle stressors.
The connection between HIV and AIDS has been confirmed, and in fact, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was granted to Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for their discovery of HIV being the cause of AIDS. Kennedy’s proposed hypothesis has already proven to be not just wrong, but ignorant to real science and facts.
“RFK Jr.’s history of denying basic scientific truth, from the cause of AIDS to the legitimacy of transgender health care … represent a grave threat to the health and well-being of the LGBTQ+ community, and he is poised now for one of the most powerful and consequential positions in shaping the nation’s health care and public health policies. In this context, disinformation isn’t just harmful, it is deadly,” said Alex Sheldon, executive director of GLMA, an association of LGBTQ health care professionals.
Kennedy has also suggested there are chemicals in public drinking water causing children to become transgender. He told anti-trans commentator Jordan Peterson that kids are “swimming through a soup of toxic chemicals,” including atrazine, a common herbicide, and that, “a lot of the problems we see in kids, and particularly boys, it’s probably underappreciated that how much of that is coming from chemical exposures, including a lot of the sexual dysphoria that we’re seeing.”
Kennedy also swore to “shake up” the department he seeks to lead, stating he would cut the positions of over 600 federal employees in the the National Institutes of Health, a division of HHS that includes the Office of AIDS Research. As HHS’ head, Kennedy would have direct oversight of the President’s Plan for Emergency AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) — which provides HIV prevention and treatment in more than 50 countries.