Scott Bessent reveals that Trump makes jokes about him being gay — to Melania’s friends

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent maintains that his sexuality played no role in President Donald Trump choosing him for the Cabinet. But he said that Trump makes jokes about his sexual orientation.“He’ll occasionally tell me, he goes, ‘You’re breaking Melania’s friends’ hearts,’” Bessent said in an interview with Axios. “‘They see you on TV, and they want an intro, and we have to break the news to them.’”Bessent, the highest-ranking out official in Cabinet history, discussed his work in the administration in a lengthy sit-down with Axios co-founder Mike Allen. The 64-year-old also said being openly gay didn’t significantly affect his career on Wall Street before he entered government.Related: The only thing Scott Bessent shares with Pete Buttigieg is a last name that begins with a 'BHe acknowledged turning down a Naval Academy appointment because he was gay. Instead, Bessent attended Yale. But while his sexuality shaped his educational choices, he said discrimination didn’t hold him back in finance, even in the 1980s.“It’s very difficult to talk about the counterfactual,” he said. “But, I don’t think going to Yale held me back. Maybe some people who went to other Ivy League schools would think it might. But I think that it makes you aware, and I’ve openly spoken about it before.”Bessent said concerns about discrimination may have influenced the career path he chose within finance.“A great thing about money management is there’s a scorecard,” he said. “Maybe in sales, maybe in trading, maybe in relationship management, there’s a lot of subjectivity.”Bessent’s own department has faced criticism over its handling of workplace discrimination. In June 2025, House Democrats urged him to reverse a Treasury proposal to remove sexual orientation and gender identity as explicitly listed grounds for sex discrimination complaints on its Equal Employment Opportunity forms. The lawmakers warned that the changes could confuse