Trump’s ‘unqualified insurrectionist’ pick to be Wyoming U.S. attorney under fire for anti-LGBTQ+ record

When President Donald Trump appointed Darin D. Smith as interim U.S. attorney for Wyoming last August, the Justice Department framed the move as routine. But as Republicans now push to confirm Smith permanently, his long record, including his opposition to LGBTQ+ rights, has become the central fault line in a nomination fight that has significant ramifications for people living in the state.

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If confirmed, Smith would serve as the chief federal law enforcement officer in the same state where Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, was murdered in 1998. The killing shocked the nation and helped galvanize the movement for modern federal hate crime laws. Smith previously chaired the Laramie County Republican Party.

Smith’s legislative history, public statements, and sworn testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee raise profound questions about whether he would enforce federal civil rights law equally for LGBTQ+ people in Wyoming.

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As a state legislator, Smith cosponsored bills that targeted LGBTQ+ visibility and expression. One proposal would have dramatically expanded Wyoming’s obscenity laws, repealing exemptions that protect public and school librarians from prosecution and potentially criminalizing drag performances. The bill’s language was so broad that even Republican lawmakers warned it could lead to sweeping book bans and prosecutions regarding routine library materials. The measure ultimately failed.

Smith also backed legislation requiring public school students to use restrooms, changing facilities, and sleeping quarters based on sex assigned at birth, a policy that LGBTQ+ advocates warned would place transgender youth at heightened risk. That measure was later signed into law.

In written responses to the Senate Judiciary Committee and obtained by The Advocate, Smith explicitly aligned himself with the Family Research Council, a far-right organization that has described homosexuality as “harmful” and opposed marriage equality. Asked whether he still supports the organization’s positions on LGBTQ+ people and same-sex marriage, Smith answered, “Yes.”

Smith has also rejected key legal protections for LGBTQ+ workers. Under oath, he said the U.S. Supreme Court wrongly decided Bostock v. Clayton County, the landmark 2020 ruling that held federal civil rights law bars employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Smith argued that the court extended the meaning of “sex” beyond congressional intent and said such protections should not exist absent new legislation. “My view is rooted in respect for the rule of law and the balance between civil rights and religious liberties,” he wrote.

While Smith told senators he does not believe businesses or the government should be able to fire someone solely for being LGBTQ+, he carved out broad exemptions for religious institutions, asserting that churches and religious organizations have a constitutional right to make employment decisions based on doctrine.

His social media history has also drawn scrutiny. Smith acknowledged reposting content supporting Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples even after the Supreme Court legalized marriage equality nationwide, though he later said he did not recall doing so. He has also shared content questioning whether LGBTQ+ people should serve openly in the military, framing their inclusion as a potential threat to national security and international respect for the United States.

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Pressed by senators on whether LGBTQ+ service members make the country less safe, Smith declined to directly disavow the premise, responding instead that the priority should be maintaining “the most effective military force possible.”

Under Trump, the U.S. military has kicked out transgender service members and barred transgender people from joining the armed services.

Democratic senators say the record raises fundamental concerns about Smith’s fitness to serve.

“Anti-LGBTQ+ extremist Darin Smith has no business serving as a top law enforcement officer in any state — let alone a state with as much history of queer importance as Wyoming,” Josh Sorbe, a spokesperson for Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats and ranking member Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, said in a statement to The Advocate. “He’s an unqualified insurrectionist with no experience litigating criminal or federal matters, and his bigotry puts into serious question his commitment to upholding the law for all Americans. We will work to defeat his nomination.”

Smith’s lack of courtroom experience has been a separate flashpoint. In sworn testimony, he acknowledged that before being named interim U.S. attorney in August, he had never appeared in court in a criminal or civil proceeding, never tried a case to verdict, never argued before a jury, and never litigated a case to final judgment. He left the section of his Judiciary Committee questionnaire blank, asking nominees to list significant litigated matters, and later confirmed under oath that he had none to list.

Smith was present on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, during the insurrection when a mob of Trump supporters attacked the seat of government. While he said he did not enter the building, he has suggested that some participants were victims of “entrapment” and declined to clearly state whether he supports the convictions of those who violently assaulted police officers that day, repeatedly deflecting to generalized statements about respect for the judicial process.

The Advocate contacted Smith for comment, but did not receive a response before publication.