Pete Hegseth, Trump’s defense secretary, says allowing gay troops to serve openly reflects a Marxist agenda

CNN
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Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to be defense secretary, has repeatedly criticized policies that allow gays to openly serve in the U.S. military, calling them part of a “Marxist” agenda that puts social justice above combativeness.

In his 2024 book “The War on Warriors” and in subsequent media advertisements that year, Hegseth described both the original “don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT) policy and its repeal in 2011 as a “gateway” and “gateway.” “Camouflage” for broader cultural changes that he says have undermined military cohesion and effectiveness.

In a 2015 appearance on Fox News, Hegseth also argued that these policies, such as repealing DADT, “undermine standards” in favor of political goals such as social engineering.

DADT was introduced in the 1990s under President Bill Clinton and allowed gays and lesbians to serve in the military – as long as they did not reveal their sexuality. Military officials were also prohibited from asking service members about their sexual orientation. If a troop’s orientation came to light, it could lead to their dismissal.

The policy was repealed during the Obama administration and allowed openly gay service members.

Hegseth writes in his book that he was initially ambivalent about the change but then regretted his passive attitude, describing the repeal as a “break in the wire” that opened the door to broader cultural and ideological changes in the military.

Hegseth, 44, a former Fox News host, joined the Minnesota Army National Guard in 2002 and served for nearly 20 years before retiring as a major. He was deployed to Guantanamo Bay, where he served as an infantry platoon leader and later completed combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. For his services he was awarded, among other things, two bronze stars.

In his book, Hegseth wrote that he was preparing to deploy to Afghanistan when the DADT repeal took effect.

“Our commander briefed the unit, peppered with a few jokes,” he wrote. “You know, infantry stuff. We mostly laughed about it and moved on. America was at war. Gays and lesbians already served in the military. I had seen the enemy with my own eyes. We needed everyone.”

Hegseth says he now regrets that view, “not because I have a newfound problem with gay Americans,” he wrote. “But because I naively believed that that’s what the end of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” was about. Once again our goodwill was used against us,” he added. “The left doesn’t give an inch and always takes a mile.”

Hegseth has been outspoken about what he calls “woke” policies that he says have weakened the U.S. military, including allowing women to serve in combat roles and allowing transgender service members to serve openly. Hegseth writes that these changes are the result of the “tinkering with social justice” that began with DADT.

Speaking on Fox News in 2015, Hegseth escalated his criticism, claiming that such measures represented an erosion of standards.

“And what you are currently seeing is a military more interested in social engineering under the leadership of this president than in warfare,” he said in comments first reported by Meidas News. “So through ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ and women in the military and those standards, they’re inevitably going to start eroding standards because they want that one female special operator, that one female Green.” Beret, that one female Army Ranger, that one a female Navy SEAL.”

“So they can put them on a recruiting poster and feel good about themselves, it has nothing to do with national security,” he added. “And these warfighters realize they’re just going to start tinkering with the standards until they get one.”

In his book, Hegseth does not cite any specific examples of incidents that could support his argument that open service by gay people harms the military.

In comments to CNN, a Trump transition spokesman declined to say what specific policies Hegseth might pursue as defense secretary, including whether he would reinstate “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” or implement changes to current standards.

“Like President Trump, Pete wants the U.S. military to focus on being the strongest fighting force in the world – not on cultural and social issues. Bottom line: If you can meet the standards, you can serve,” the spokesman said. “But given the threats we face, our priorities should not be lowering standards and wasting taxpayer dollars to meet arbitrary social quotas – our priorities should be preparedness and lethality.”

In private conversations with senators, Hegseth has also indicated that he is not opposed to women serving in combat roles as long as they meet a standard set for all warfighters.

Asked by CNN on Wednesday about his past comments about women in combat roles, Hegseth said he supports “all women serving in our military.” When asked whether he thought it was a mistake to abolish the phrase “don’t ask, don’t tell,” he didn’t answer.

In 2016, under the Obama administration, the Pentagon lifted the ban on transgender people serving openly in the military, allowing them to receive medical care and update their gender identity while serving in the military.

Under Trump, the policy was reversed, and then-Defense Secretary James Mattis implemented a policy in 2018 that barred people diagnosed with gender dysphoria from military service except in limited cases. President Joe Biden lifted the Trump-era ban in 2021.

The ban on women serving in ground combat units was lifted in 2013, and all combat positions in the U.S. military were opened to women in 2016. These included infantry, tanks, reconnaissance and some special forces.

According to 2022 Pentagon data, women make up 17.5% of the Defense Department’s active-duty force.

Over the years, polls have shown that the share of Americans who support gay people serving openly in the military is increasing. In 2010, Pew Research, 58% supported it, compared to 52% in 1994. In 2013, 66% of Americans supported allowing women into combat missions, according to Pew Research polls. A 2016 Morning Consult poll found that 74% of registered voters support allowing women to serve in combat missions in the military.

A 2015 RAND Corporation survey found that 5.8% of active-duty military personnel identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual and 0.6% identified as transgender, a similar proportion to the civilian population. Still, a 2020 study in the journal Sexuality Research and Social Policy found that 59% of LGBTQ+ service members felt uncomfortable being “out.”

In October of this year, the Pentagon updated more than 800 records of service members who were kicked out of the military under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy to receive an honorable discharge. The change now gives military members access to eligible benefits they were previously denied, such as: B. Home loans, health care and GI Bill student aid.

On an episode of “The Ben Shapiro Show” this summer, Hegseth claimed that “a lot of people” who originally supported repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” principle now regret their involvement in the policy change, citing one of them is an example of an anonymous gay soldier who says he now regrets supporting the repeal of DADT because it opened the door to a “trans agenda” in the military.

Speech on the “Ben Shapiro Show” In June, Hegseth criticized a military advertising campaign that featured a soldier with two lesbian mothers, calling it emblematic of a larger shift toward individualism in military culture.

“It started with Clinton under the motto ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell,'” he said. “I’m trying to change this policy. And when he did it, there was a lot of criticism about it.”

“At least when it was an ‘Army of One,’ they looked, you know, tough, Get the army – but you’re right, that was the subtle shift towards an individual advertising campaign,” he said previously. “Now you just have the absurdity of ‘I have two moms and I’m so proud to show them I can wear the uniform too.’ So it’s just like everything else the Marxists and the left have done. At first it was well camouflaged, and now they are open about it.”

In another November interview on a podcast, Hegseth again argued that “don’t ask, don’t tell” was the beginning of the military’s “tinkering” with social justice.

“So it started, you know, we saw it under Clinton, with the tinkering with ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ and the reasons for those changes,” Hegseth said in a podcast promoting his book. “And I talked to some of the people who were involved when that was changed, but it really happened, it started to accelerate under Obama.”

At another event in 2016, Hegseth cited “women in combat” and DADT repeal as policies pushed by “political couch potatoes” in the military favored by the Obama administration.

“It was things like ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ which was their immediate goal, right? Right in front of the goal,” said Hegseth. “We have to change that and – say what you will about it, people are passionate about this issue. “But most of all, what was demonstrated among women in combat was the idea that there will be gender neutrality and selection.”

CNN’s Manu Raju and Alison Main contributed to this report.

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