This story originally appeared on The Advocate.
U.S. Rep. Becca Balint offered a pointed queer critique of President Donald Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s new testosterone initiative Thursday, comparing the Pentagon chief’s cultivated “rugged macho man” image to the hypermasculine figures drawn by the gay erotic artist Tom of Finland.
Balint, a Vermont Democrat and a lesbian, was speaking with MeidasTouch chief Washington correspondent Scott MacFarlane at the U.S. Capitol one day after Hegseth announced mandatory annual testosterone deficiency screening for service members age 30 and older. MacFarlane posted video of the exchange to social media.
“I think [this] is indicative of the fact that there are so many people in this administration that have some weird, intense, homoerotic feelings towards men while also being incredibly homophobic,” Balint said, adding that administration officials engage in “hate mongering” and “fear mongering” about LGBTQ+ people.
She stressed that homoeroticism itself was not the target of her criticism. “I don’t think the homoeroticism is the weird part,” she said. “The weird part is that they pretend that that’s not what it’s about.”
Balint then reached for a reference from queer art history. “Pete Hegseth is the example of this, the manly, manly, rugged macho man,” she said. “I don’t know if you know who Tom of Finland is.”
Balint described Tom of Finland’s work as gay male pornography before declaring, “Pete Hegseth is the embodiment of that.”
Tom of Finland was the pseudonym of Touko Laaksonen, a Finnish artist whose erotic drawings of muscular, exaggeratedly masculine men in uniforms, leather and work clothes became influential in gay culture beginning in the 1950s. His work helped challenge stereotypes that portrayed gay men exclusively as weak or effeminate.
Balint’s comparison followed Hegseth’s announcement Wednesday of a military-wide testosterone screening program, which he promoted on social media as part of a “High-T Department of War.”
Under Hegseth’s memorandum, testosterone screening will become a mandatory part of periodic health assessments for all active duty and reserve personnel age 30 and older. Younger service members may request testing. The document says “targeted testosterone therapy directly optimizes Warfighter readiness,” although Hegseth said accepting treatment would be voluntary.
Hegseth said the initiative would keep troops “strong, resilient and capable” and ensure that they have the appropriate testosterone levels to operate at their “absolute best.”
Related: Pete Hegseth receives jeers from U.S. service members’ families at military base in Germany
The Pentagon has not disclosed the program’s estimated cost, the testosterone level it will consider deficient, or how the policy will apply to women. Medical guidelines generally recommend against testing everyone for low testosterone, advising doctors instead to evaluate patients with relevant symptoms and confirm low levels through multiple blood tests.
The initiative has drawn criticism because it expands access to hormone treatment months after Trump and Hegseth began removing transgender people from the military and restricting their access to gender-affirming care.
The Trump administration cited approximately $52 million spent between 2015 and 2024 on all military care associated with gender dysphoria while defending the transgender service ban in court. That figure covered nearly a decade and included psychotherapy, prescriptions, surgeries and other care — not hormone therapy alone.
Hegseth has also repeatedly connected his preferred “warrior ethos” to attacks on transgender people. In a May 2025 speech, he declared, “No more dudes in dresses,” while celebrating the administration’s efforts to remove transgender service members.
Balint, the first woman and first out LGBTQ+ person to represent Vermont in Congress, is a co-chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus.
She also connected Hegseth’s testosterone initiative and emphasis on male-coded physical strength to his record involving women and people of color in military leadership.
Her criticism follows reporting that Hegseth personally removed nine officers from a Navy promotion list, including all three women and two Black men. The intervention left an all-male group of 22 officers advancing for promotion to one-star admiral. The Pentagon has not explained the individual removals but has said that military promotions are based on merit and that race and gender are not considered, the Associated Press reported.
“The people who are the best of the best rise to the top,” Balint said. “And so the fact that he has systematically been keeping down women and people of color gives up the whole game. It’s actually not about a merit-based system anymore.”
