President Donald Trump famously used the phrase “You’re fired!” In the early 2000s, he hosted the reality show “The Apprentice.” But during his time in the Oval Office, he has sought to distance himself from that image.
Despite these efforts, the phrase has come to mind again after President Trump fired two senior female Cabinet members, Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem, within the past month.
Their successors, Todd Blanche at the Justice Department and Markwayne Mullin at the Department of Homeland Security, both brought records that reflected limited support for, and in some cases direct opposition to, LGBTQ protections, albeit with varying degrees of depth.
Todd Blanche
Deputy Attorney General
Little has been discovered about Todd Blanche’s LGBTQ history prior to his role as acting attorney general. Unlike those who worked in the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department or served as state attorneys general; He has not developed a public-facing legal ideology regarding LGBTQ issues.
Blanche, like fellow Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, attended American University, where she met her future wife, Christine. Christine was studying at Catholic University in nearby Washington, DC.
He began his legal career as an intern at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, which eventually became a full-time position. She then worked as a paralegal in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York while attending law school in Brooklyn at night. Blanche graduated with honors in 2003. Later, he and his wife got married and had two children.
Blanche left the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2014. take a job At the Manhattan office of law firm WilmerHale. In September 2017, he moved to Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, where he served as a partner in the white collar defense and investigation practice.
In his personal capacity, he has represented multiple individuals associated with Donald Trump and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, including Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort, businessman Igor Fruman, and lawyer Boris Epshteyn.
In 2024, Blanche switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, aligning herself with Trump’s political trajectory. he later Served as President Trump’s personal attorney in the New York case that led to his conviction in 2024 On 34 felonies for falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to bisexual adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Currently the highest-ranking official at the Department of Justice, Blanche plays a central role in the department’s oversight and has been involved in leadership decisions related to several controversial practices affecting LGBTQ people.
in Letter to New York State Attorney General Letitia JamesBlanche declared that if legal action is taken against NYU Langone, the Justice Department “cannot stand idly by while you use your office to try to force a process that is harmful to our most vulnerable citizens.” The hospital “permanently” ended the program earlier that month after the Trump-Vance administration threatened to withdraw all federal funding if it continued to prescribe puberty blockers and hormones to minors.
“The Department of Justice believes that the law is clear and that anti-discrimination laws cannot be used to compel NYU Langone to implement child sex refusal procedures,” Blanche wrote.
“As just one example, your office’s position requires hospitals to prescribe certain drugs for certain diagnoses, regardless of whether the hospital or its physicians have made their own medical judgment as to the appropriateness of such treatment,” he said.
Blanche also echoed Bondi’s sentiments regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in June 2025 to limit LGBTQ-related protections at the federal level, limit LGBTQ history classes in schools, and restrict lower federal courts from issuing nationwide injunctions. The rulings have often blocked Trump administration policies.
Blanche called the decision “another great decision handed down today,” claiming it “restores parents’ right to make decisions about their children’s education,” adding, “It seems like a basic idea, but it took the Supreme Court to set the record straight, and we are grateful for that. And now, with this decision, parents can move away from dangerous trans ideology and make decisions for their children that they believe are right.”
In December 2025, Described in a Department of Justice memo “Effective immediately,” prisons and detention centers will no longer be held liable for violations of standards meant to protect LGBTQ people from harassment, abuse and rape. Prison Rape Elimination Act. The law, passed unanimously by Congress in 2003, requires incarcerated people to be screened for risk of sexual assault, including considering their LGBTQ status, and applies to all correctional facilities.
Furthermore, the Department of Justice Under the guidance of Blanche And after Trump’s order to force Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., to turn over medical records related to gender-affirming care, U.S. District Judge Julie R. Rubin ruled that the effort “appears to have no purpose other than intimidation and harassment.”
Blanche is also said to have a “strong belief in the authority of government.”
markwayne marin
secretary of homeland security
While Blanche’s record is defined by more recent actions than a long written record, Markwayne Mullin brings a more established history on LGBTQ issues from his time in Congress.
The Secretary of Homeland Security has served in both the U.S. House and Senate since 2013. He is active in shaping regulations and aligns with broader cultural rhetoric that frames anti-LGBTQ speech as protected expression.
In May 2016, Marin criticized the Department of Education and the Department of Justice. “Dear colleague” letter Regarding transgender students, advocate for transgender girls Girls should not be allowed to use restrooms in public schools.
By January 2021, Marin and then-Hawaii state representative Tulsi Gabbard had introduced a bill that would ban trans women from participating in female sports.
Marin is not recorded as having voted for the final passage of the Respect for Marriage Act, which codified federal recognition of same-sex and interracial marriages.
In 2023, Marin was rated: 6 percent from the Human Rights Campaign;
While serving as a senator and a member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Marin has been a vocal critic of policies aimed at expanding LGBTQ participation in federal programs. He has participated in a wide range of Republican efforts They questioned the equity-based implementation of the Older People Act, which includes guidance on sexual orientation and gender identity in aging services, and argued that such policies can have unintended consequences.
Mullin also made history as the first Native American and Cherokee Nation to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
he was in it 147 Republicans voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election He announced the results despite no evidence of widespread wrongdoing and appeared before the House of Commons on January 6.
The Washington Blade asked DHS and the Department of Justice for comment on the records of the two Cabinet choices on LGBTQ rights. In response, the Department of Homeland Security told the Blade that “Secretary Mullin’s career at the Department of Homeland Security will protect all Americans,” but the Justice Department has not yet responded.
Source: Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News – www.washingtonblade.com
