Pete Hegseth – a former Fox News host and President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense – says he regrets not fighting against the 2010 repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), the 1992 law banning out gay and bi people from serving in the military.

In a June 2024 episode of The Ben Shapiro Show, Hegseth said he thinks DADT’s repeal was part of the “Marxist” and “leftist” “gateway” shift towards individualism (rather than unit cohesion) that was “a costume for the trans agenda being pushed into the military,” something that undermined the military’s overall effectiveness. He said a lot of other people who initially supported DADT’s repeal now regret it for the same reason.

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“At least when [the Army’s advertising and recruiting slogan] was an ‘Army of One’ [between 2001 and 2006] they were, you know, tough looking, go get ‘em army – but … that was the subtle shifting toward an individual ad campaign,” he said. “Now [since the repeal of DADT,] you just have the absurdity of ‘I have two mommies and I’m so proud to show them that I can wear the uniform too.’ So they, it’s just like everything else the Marxists and the leftists have done. At first, it was camouflaged nicely and now they’re just, they’re just open about it.”

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Hegseth echoed this sentiment in his 2024 book The War on Warriors, according to CNN. In it, he called DADT repeal a “gateway” and a “camouflage” for broader cultural changes that have harmed the military. When asked by CNN on Wednesday whether repealing DADT was a mistake, he reportedly didn’t answer.

His recent comments echo ones he made to Fox News in 2015 in which he said that the military repealed DADT under former President Barack Obama because “it was more interested in social engineering led by this president than they are in war fighting.” He said that the inclusion of out LGBTQ+ soldiers helps “erode” the U.S military’s effectiveness.

In a statement to CNN, a Trump spokesperson said, “Pete wants to see the U.S. military focus on being the world’s strongest fighting force – not on cultural and social issues. Bottom line: If you can meet the standards, you can serve…. Given the threats we face, our priorities shouldn’t be lowering standards and wasting taxpayer money to meet arbitrary social quotas – our priorities should be readiness and lethality.”

An estimated 6.1% of current military personnel identify as LGBTQ+, according to a 2022 study, a percentage that accounts for approximately 126,827 people. If confirmed by the Senate, Hegseth will be partially responsible for re-instating Trump’s ban on out trans military service members. The ban could result in the discharge of anywhere from 2,150 to 10,790 trans military members.

In a statement against Hegseth’s views, Human Rights Campaign National Press Secretary Brandon Wolf wrote, “Every day, brave military servicemembers get up and courageously protect and defend our country. They put their lives on the line for our freedoms, and they are owed our ironclad gratitude for their sacrifice.”

“The Secretary of Defense is responsible for supporting all our servicemembers, but Hegseth’s comments show an immense disrespect for those in the military who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, women, and anyone who doesn’t fit his own narrow ideology,” Wolf added. “Not only is he unqualified and unfit for this role, but those who have stepped up to serve their country deserve better than the failed, discriminatory policies of the past.”

Hegseth also thinks women make the military less effective and less lethal, according to his comment in a November 7 installment of The Shawn Ryan Show podcast.

Elsewhere in his June interview with Shapiro, Hegseth said that he joined the military to fight extremists but was now branded as one for his Christian faith, support of Trump, and work at Fox News. He claimed that Democratic presidents with “foreign values” inserted “woke” values into the military by pressuring top military leaders and military academy educators to promote them and by allowing soldiers to attend left-leaning universities.

While at Fox News, Hegseth opposed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s directive to root out right-wing extremism, white supremacy, and Nazi ideology. The directive followed the revelation that 20% of the initial 140 arrestees from the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots were either military veterans or retirees. Hegseth called the issue of extremism in the ranks a “myth” even though a 2019 Military Times poll found that 36% of white active duty service members said they had personally witnessed displays of white nationalism in the ranks.

In the Shapiro interview, Hegseth blamed the January 6 insurrection on left-wing anti-fascist activists and Democrats, even though the riots were started by Trump’s supporters who believed his lie that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from him by a widespread and unprecedented national conspiracy of voter fraud that only occurred in the states that he lost.

Hegseth has refused to answer whether Trump lost the 2020 election. Trump lost by over seven million votes.

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