Military families protesting the Defense Department’s anti-DEI push heckled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on his arrival at U.S. European Command headquarters in Germany on Tuesday.
On a visit to the U.S. military’s key European military hub in Stuttgart, Hegseth was booed by around two dozen people who live at the base in an apparent demonstration against the policies being implemented by the Trump administration.
The demonstrators at the short protest repeatedly chanted “DEI,” apparently in a reference to Hegseth’s recent ban on some books in Defense Department schools. Hegseth last week ordered the restriction of learning materials covering subjects that included psychology and immigration in Defense Department schools.
Hegseth also said in a memo last week that the U.S. military will no longer allow transgender people to join the military and will stop performing or facilitating procedures associated with gender transition for service members.
“Effective immediately, all new accessions for individuals with a history of gender dysphoria are paused,” Hegseth said in the memo. “All unscheduled, scheduled, or planned medical procedures associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition for Service members are paused.”
One of the protesters held an umbrella covered in a rainbow pattern, which is commonly associated with LGBTQ causes.
The moves came against a broader Trump administration initiative to terminate federal employees in diversity, equity and inclusion roles, in many cases specifically pertaining to the armed forces.
In his first weeks in office, Trump signed four executive orders pertaining to the military, including one barring transgender people from enlisting and serving openly and another cracking down on DEI initiatives in the armed services.
Protests by military families against a defense secretary are extremely rare, although it is not the first time Hegseth has faced demonstrations. At his Senate confirmation hearing last month, protesters repeatedly interrupted him during his opening statement, with one attacking him as a “Christian Zionist” over his support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Hegseth, a former Fox News anchor and combat veteran, was eventually confirmed by the Senate, with Vice President JD Vance casting a vote to avoid a tie, only the second time in history a vice president has been needed to break a tie for a Cabinet-level nominee.
Hegseth’s nomination was felt to be controversial given his previous remarks that women should not serve in combat roles and multiple news reports detailing allegations of alcohol abuse, a sexual assault and financial mismanagement of organizations he led.
