Trump picks anti-LGBTQ+ governor Kristi Noem to be secretary of Homeland Security

Donald Trump has named anti-LGBTQ+ governor Kristi Noem as his pick for secretary of homeland security.

A week on from his crushing win over Kamala Harris in the presidential election, Trump has, according to CNN on Tuesday (12 November), picked South Dakota governor Noem to run the department responsible for anti-terrorism, border and cyber security, immigration and disaster prevention.

The department was formed in 2003 in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in New York and on the Pentagon.

This latest move follows Trump’s appointment of Susie Wiles as the first female chief of staff, Lee Zeldin as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Elise Stefanik as US ambassador to the United Nations, immigration hardliner Tom Homan as the so-called border czar, and right-wing firebrand Stephen Miller – who played a key role in the Muslim travel ban and a policy that separated migrant children from their parents – as his deputy chief of staff for policy.

Noem, who was first elected as governor in 2019, has been a strong supporter of Trump and was even tipped as a possibly running mate.

She has been a vocal opponent of LGBTQ+ rights, describing marriage as “a special bond between a man and a woman”.

In early 2022, she signed a bill banning trans student-athletes from playing in sports leagues that align with their gender identity, saying it would “ensure that we have fairness and a level playing field” in the Mount Rushmore State.

Noem was also responsible for an anti-trans ad promoting her re-election campaign in 2022, which activists labelled “discriminatory rhetoric”. Later that year, she avoided discussing LGBTQ+ rights with a star of HBO’s We’re Here by allegedly hiding in her office.

In 2023, the governor was sued by trans group The Transformation Project after a contract they had with the state’s Department of Health was cancelled, which they claimed constituted discrimination.

The case went in the group’s favour and the state was forced to issue a letter of apology and pay a $300,000 (£235,000) settlement. Susan Williams, the project’s executive director, said: “The government has acknowledged what we knew: that we did not break any procedures and did not fail to meet the terms of the contract. The government cancelled our contract because of the very population we serve: the transgender community.”

Noem faced controversy earlier this year after she wrote in her memoir No Going Back that she had killed her “untrainable” 14-month-old dog Cricket.

She also claimed in the book to have met North Korea leader Kim Jong Un. The passage was eventually removed by the publishers and she refused to make any further comments.

All the candidates need to go through congressional vetting before being able to take up their positions but this shouldn’t be a problem because the Republicans now control the senate and look likely to retain their grip on the house of representatives. Despite this, Trump has demanded to be allowed appoint officials to his new administration without confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill.

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