Status: 🔴 Republican Governor of South Dakota (2019–2025) and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security (2025–2026) who banned trans girls from school sports by executive order, signed HB 1080 banning gender-affirming care for minors, and directed the federal rollback of transgender protections across aviation security, immigration detention, and identity documents.
Kristi Noem served as the Republican Governor of South Dakota from January 2019 to January 2025. In March 2021, after the legislature passed HB 1217 — one of the first anti-trans sports bans in the nation — Noem initially vowed to sign it, then issued a “style-and-form” veto that the legislature declined to accept, killing the bill. She immediately replaced it with Executive Orders 2021-05 and 2021-06, which banned transgender girls and women from participating in sports from kindergarten through college.
In February 2023 she signed HB 1080 (“Help Not Harm”), banning gender-affirming medical care for minors.
In January 2025 she became U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security under President Donald Trump, directing implementation of Executive Order 14168 (“Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism”) across the Department of Homeland Security. During her tenure the Transportation Security Administration barred transgender officers from pat-downs, ICE rolled back transgender care in immigration detention, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services revoked the “X” gender marker. She was removed in March 2026 — the first Cabinet secretary fired in Trump’s second term — and replaced by Senator Markwayne Mullin.
South Dakota’s HB 1217, passed by the legislature in March 2021, would have barred trans girls from school athletics consistent with their gender identity. Noem had “vowed to sign” the bill — media described her as “excited” about it — but she instead returned it with a style-and-form veto, a procedural maneuver that rewrites a bill rather than rejecting it outright. The legislature refused her version, and the bill died on March 29, 2021.
Hours later, Noem signed Executive Orders 2021-05 and 2021-06, achieving the same result by fiat: trans girls and women were banned from school sports from kindergarten through college. Civil rights organizations called the orders “anti-transgender executive orders” that “cannot withstand legal scrutiny” and exposed South Dakota to economic, legal, and reputational threats.
On February 13, 2023, Noem signed HB 1080 (“Help Not Harm”), restricting gender-affirming medical care for minors — hormone replacement therapy, puberty blockers, and surgery — with narrow exceptions, a grandfather clause ending December 31, 2023, and discipline for medical professionals who violate it. The law took effect July 1, 2023.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security on January 25, 2025, by a 59–34 vote. On February 7, 2025, she issued a department-wide message directing implementation of Executive Order 14168 — signed by Trump on January 20, 2025 — which requires the federal government to recognize only two sexes and to eliminate “gender identity” from federal policy.
Under Noem, the Transportation Security Administration barred transgender officers from performing pat-downs consistent with their gender identity and from using restrooms matching their gender. The agency also rescinded its transgender screening directive (MD 900.3), ended recognition of Pride Month, banned “X” gender markers and pronouns, removed gender identity from its anti-harassment protections, and deleted its “Transgender Travelers” guidance page. In November 2025, a transgender TSA officer filed a federal lawsuit challenging the policies.
Under Noem, ICE dismantled protections for transgender detainees that had been established by the 2015 Transgender Care Memorandum issued under Tom Homan:
In June 2025, Noem personally attended an ICE raid in Huntington Park, California.
On April 2, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued Policy Alert PA-2025-04, revoking the “X” gender marker introduced in 2024, recognizing only two sexes, and removing procedures for changing gender markers — including language recognizing the validity of transgender marriages.
In October 2025, the department required airlines to disregard “X” passport markers and enter “M” or “F” for every passenger in airline security screening systems.
DHS intelligence analysts stopped using “transgender” as a category, reporting on “LGB+” communities instead — even in threat assessments about Pride Month — and the department loosened restrictions on surveillance based on sexual orientation.
After a contentious congressional hearing, Trump announced on March 5, 2026, that he was replacing Noem — the first Cabinet secretary fired in his second term. Her farewell message said her last day would be March 31, 2026, and that she would become Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas – Western Hemisphere. The Senate confirmed Senator Markwayne Mullin as her successor on March 23, 2026, and he was sworn in the next day.
In March 2026, a British tabloid investigation reported that Noem’s husband of 34 years had allegedly carried on a secret online life — paying adult entertainers for “bimbofication” and feminization role-play, sharing images of himself in women’s clothing, and sending money to women in fetish communities. The investigation published what it said were photographs and messages; a spokesperson said Noem was “devastated” and that the family was “blindsided,” asking for privacy.
In April 2026, additional reporting published alleged audio recordings and messages between her husband and a dominatrix and fetish model, in which he reportedly asked to be called “Crystal,” discussed fantasies about hormone therapy and feminizing surgery, and said he wanted to eventually live publicly as a woman. The materials were not independently verified by the outlets that published them, and coverage noted that fetishistic cross-dressing is not the same as transgender identity; her spouse has not publicly identified as transgender. Asked about the claims, he said they were “not all true” without specifying which parts he disputed.
Further reporting in June 2026 said he had used a phone number tied to his insurance business for paid sessions over several years, drawing questions from ethics and national-security experts. In July 2026, Noem’s mother confirmed the couple planned to divorce after 34 years of marriage; Noem reportedly informed relatives in late spring that she had retained a lawyer.
The reporting drew renewed attention to the contrast between Noem’s public record of restricting transgender rights — the sports bans, the gender-affirming care ban, and the rollback of transgender protections at the Department of Homeland Security — and the conduct alleged within her own household.