The Senate on Monday confirmed billionaire hedge fund manager and investor Scott Bessent as President Trump’s Treasury secretary, making him the highest-ranking LGBTQ official in the nation’s history.

The Senate voted 68-29 Monday evening to confirm Bessent, 62, to lead the Department of the Treasury. He is the first openly LGBTQ person to hold the position, fifth in line to the presidency.

Bessent’s confirmation comes after former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg made history as the first openly LGBTQ Cabinet official to win Senate confirmation in 2021. In 2020, during Trump’s first term, Richard Grenell became the first gay Cabinet member when he was appointed acting director of national intelligence.

In being confirmed as Treasury secretary, Bessent is taking on the nation's highest administrative economic office, and one of the biggest Cabinet positions.

Bessent’s husband, former New York City prosecutor John Freeman, attended his confirmation hearing this month with their two children. “The ultimate civics lesson,” Bessent quipped in his opening remarks.

A graduate of Yale University, Bessent marveled

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