THEGAYUK

Tag: Xavier Bettel

Xavier Bettel was the first, openly gay world leader. He came to power in Luxembourg in 2013. He has been with his husband since 2010, they married in 2015.

  • Who are the gay and lesbian Prime Ministers of Europe?

    European countries have had the most openly gay and lesbian leaders, with five openly out being elected into power since 2009.

    Who are the openly gay prime ministers of the world?

    To our knowledge, there have not been any openly bisexual or transgender leaders. There have been five openly gay and lesbian leaders.

     

    Iceland

    Iceland was the first country in Europe to elect an openly lesbian leader with Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir, she served from the 1st of February 2009 until the 23rd May 2013. She was part of the Social Democratic Alliance in Iceland. She is married to Jónína Leósdóttir. They have been together since 2002.

    Belgium

    Belgium elected Elio Di Rupo was Prime Minster from the 6th December 2011 until October 2014. Di Rupo came out as gay in 1996, during a press pack conference in which he was asked if he was gay, he responded, “Yes. So what?” He is the first openly gay man to lead a sovereign state, and the first openly gay man to win the position in his own right pursuant to an election

    Luxembourg

    Luxembourg was the next country to elect an openly gay man with Xavier Bettel being elected on 2nd December 2013. He is still in power.

    Ireland

    On the 13th June Ireland made Leo Varadkar Prime Minister. He is the youngest Prime Minster of Ireland.

    Serbia

    On the 15th June, Serbia got its first lesbian and female Prime Minister, Ana Brnabić. MsBrnabić is a 41-year-old graduate of the University of Hull.

     

     

  • Who is Gauthier Destenay?

    You may have heard the name Gauthier Destenay mentioned in the press recently but who is he?

    Embed from Getty Images

    Gauthier Destenay is the Belgium husband of Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg’s Prime Minister. Mr Bettel is the only current openly gay world leader. That would make Mr Destenay Luxembourg’s First Gentleman.

    The couple got married in a private ceremony in 2015 after being together since 2010. They got engaged in 2014. If you’re wondering who asked who, in an interview with The Los Angeles Times, Mr Bettel revealed it was Gauthier who asked first.

    So what does Gauthier Destenay do for a living?

    Well, Gauthier is an architect and works for the Belgium architecture company, A3 Architecture. He received his qualification in 2003 and became a partner at the A3 company in 2013. He works as an associate architect.

    Does Gauthier appear with Xavier at every event?

    Just like the spouses of every head of state, Gauthier attends events which are appropriate for partners to attend, however, Xavier has made it clear that he will not attend events where he and his partner are not welcome.

    During an event earlier in 2017 Xavier recalled an incident where an invitation was actually removed when the host found out he had a male partner.

    The unnamed country’s officials asked that he not to mention the fact that he was gay, to which Xavier said he would purposely bring up and speak out about homosexuality. The invitation was swiftly removed.

     

     

     

     

  • The White House excludes the name of the husband of Luxembourg’s gay Prime Minister

    The White House seemingly edited out the name of Luxembourg Prime Minister’s husband, Gauthier Destenay.

    The official White House picture, which included the spouses of Nato leaders, was published on the official White House Facebook page however at the time of publishing they omitted the name of Luxembourg Prime Minster’s husband, Gauthier Destenay.

    Embed from Getty Images

    The picture formed part of a album of 97 pictures taken during President Donald Trump’s first international visit since taking office in January.

    The picture included First Lady Emine Erdoğan of Turkey; Iceland’s Thora Margret Baldvinsdottir; the First Lady of France Brigitte Trogneux; First Lady Melania Trump; Slovenia’s Mojca Stropnik; Bulgaria’s Desislava Radeva; Luxembourg’s Gauthier Destenay; Belgium’s Amélie Derbaudrenghien, and Norway’s Ingrid Schulerud.

    Luxembourg’s Prime Minster Xavier Bettel is the world’s only openly gay head of state.

    The omission of Gauthier Destenay’s name caused an immediate backlash on social media. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or GLAAD, was swift to respond to the post asking, why Mr Destenay was left out of the credit.

    The White House then updated the picture, to include his name, nine hours after publishing.

  • Luxembourg’s Prime Minster was told to pretend partner was “assistant” in anti-gay country

    Luxembourg’s Prime Minster, Xavier Bettel has spoken about how it was suggested that he should describe his boyfriend at the time as an “assistant” on an official trip to an unnamed country.

    Speaking at this year’s Economist Pride Event, Pride and Prejudice, the world’s only and first openly gay world leader, Xavier Bettel, explained how it was suggested, by another country’s government officials, that his boyfriend, now husband, should be described as an assistant rather than his partner. Mr Bettel was on an official political visit to the unnamed country, although he wasn’t Prime Minister at the time.

    Mr Bettel was on an official political visit to the unnamed country, although he wasn’t Prime Minister at the time.

    Speaking about the incident, he said,

    “I was an MP and had a meeting in the country and my partner, he is my husband now, but was my partner at the time, was joining me, I wrote on the paper, a form, that I would be joined by my partner.

    “They asked me, ‘Are you sure?’, and I said ‘Yes, I’m sure!’.

    “They said, ‘can’t you write that he’s your assistant and not your partner, so he’s your political assistant’, I said, ‘I prefer the reputation to be gay than have sexual relaitons with all my staff!’”

    The Luxembourg Prime Minister also said that he was sometimes invited for official visits to other countries, only to be told that it would be too dangerous to come because of his sexuality. One such country’s officials asked that he not to mention the fact that he was gay, to which Xavier said he would purposely bring up and speak out about homosexuality. The invitation was swiftly removed.

     

     

     

     

  • 10 People Who Really Made A Difference In A Landmark Year For LGBT Rights

    Earlier we reported on the disappointing list of 6 people The Independent published as having made 2015 a landmark year for LGBT rights worldwide.

    Writer Matthew Hoy shares his top 10 landmark personalities with THEGAYUK who made 2015 a truly exceptional year in the LGBT equality movement.

    Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera

    Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera is an out Lesbian, LGBT rights activist and co-founder of Uganda’s first LGBT publication – Bombastic. In June she appeared on the cover of arguably one of the most prestigious publications in the world – Time Magazine. It is hoped that this will help shine a light on LGBT issues on the continent which often go unseen.
    “All we need is respect, and protection from violence, and our basic inalienable human rights. Speaking out and bringing attention to the plight of LGBT people is life. I will not be silenced by anyone.”Casey Conway

    Casey Conway, an Aboriginal Australian and former national rugby league player for the Sydney Roosters, came out as gay this year. Following a shoulder injury he retired from rugby at the age of 22 and went on to work with vulnerable and homeless youth. In coming out he said the following about his work, “I’ve worked with kids who are homeless because they’ve been kicked out of home when they came out [as gay]. They’re suffering not only because they don’t have a home, but because of their mental health and a raft of other issues.”

    Jaime Lopez Vela and Alexi Ali Mendez

    It made worldwide headlines when Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriages were legal and that previous legislation defining marriage as “something to be celebrated between a man and a woman” was in fact unconstitutional.

    This issue, however, would have never come before the Supreme Court had it not been for the likes of Vela and Mendez, both LGBT activists and lawyers who together fought various game-changing legal battles across the country eventually leading to the landmark ruling by the Supreme Court this year.

    Xavier Bettel

    When Xavier Bettel decided to declare his undying love for Gauthier Destenay in marriage, he became the second sitting world leader and first in the EU to marry their same-sex partner. This hopefully set an example for LGBT youth across the EU, that it is, in fact, okay to be gay and that marriage is about love.

    Elena Klimnova

    This year Russian LGBT activist, Elena Klimnova, faced tough criticism and even fines from the Russian government for her site Deti-404. The site was a treasure trove for LGBT teens in the homophobic state to share their stories of harassment and to offer support. Despite facing repeated prosecution and threats from members of the public, Elena has fought for this brave cause and given LGBT teens a ray of hope in an ever-depressing environment.

    Richard Fung

    Richard Fung is an award winning documentarian who was awarded this year’s Kessler Award for his contributions to LGBT Studies. One of his most notable works was his film entitled “Orientations” which explored the Asian-Canadian gay and lesbian communities that existed underground in the 1980s.

    Nepal

    This year the small Asian state became the first in Asia to provide explicit protection for LGBT people from discrimination, violence and abuse as part of its new constitution.

    Upon hearing this news, Ty Cobb, Director of HRC Global said, “We congratulate LGBT Nepalis and their allies for this historic victory, and hope to see other nations across Asia and the globe take similar steps to ensure full legal equality for their LGBT citizens.”

    Israel Gay Youth Organization

    This year the Israel Gay Youth Organisation took the first steps in its planned outreach into the LGBT-Arab community with the translation of its site into Arabic and the opening up of online forums wherein Arab youth can discuss their fears and concerns.

    In an interview with Haaretz, one of the new Arab counsellors had the following to say, “Arab gay youth have no sources of information about being gay…Until the age of 18, I thought I was the only gay person in the world. I was completely cut off. We didn’t even have sex education at school. I went looking for a boy who had left our school, and I was told he was gay. I met him, he was in an art school and he introduced me to the community. Until 12th grade I never met a gay person or went to a gay party.”

    This is the first step in the right direction in offering LGBT education to Arab youth.

    LGBTory

    The LGBT Group of the Conservatives Party was proud to boast this year that at the 2015 General Elections, the Tories had put forward the largest number of openly LGBT candidates forward totalling 37. No matter what your political affiliation it is a great moment when a political party can boast about how many LGBT candidates it has, as this will only encourage more LGBT youth to become active politically.by Matthew

  • Luxembourg: Only Gay Prime Minister In The World To Marry?

    Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel is to wed his partner Gauthier Destenay next week, according to Yahoo News, just a few months after the tiny duchy legalised same-sex marriage.

    Bettel, who became prime minister in 2013 at the age of just 40, has said little about his plans in a bid to minimise press coverage in the tiny, conservative and mostly Roman Catholic duchy.

    “He does not want to put his private life in the public spotlight and he has turned down requests from the celebrity magazines to cover the event,” one of the sources said.

    In August, Bettel said he would marry Destenay, an architect, with whom he has been in a civil union since 2010.

    “He asked me and I said ‘yes,’” he told the Los Angeles Times.

    Mr Bettel is currently the only out gay Prime Minister in the world, although previously there were Belgium’s Elio Di Rupo and Iceland’s Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir .