List of openly LGBT heads of government
This is a list of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, or trans (LGBT) people who have been the head of government of a country or a subnational division such as a state, a province, or a territory. To date, there have been five openly LGBT people who have served as a national head of government, holding office in Iceland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, and Serbia.
National[]
Denotes incumbent head of government
Name | Image | Country | National population (while in office) |
Office | Political party | Mandate start | Mandate end | Term length | Sexual orientation/ gender identity |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir | Iceland | 315,556 (2011 census) | Prime Minister of Iceland | Social Democratic Alliance | 1 February 2009 | 23 May 2013 | 4 years, 111 days | Lesbian[1] | |
Elio Di Rupo | Belgium | 11,209,044 (2015) | Prime Minister of Belgium | Socialist Party | 6 December 2011 | 11 October 2014 | 2 years, 309 days | Gay[2] | |
Xavier Bettel | Luxembourg | 633,622 (2021 estimate) | Prime Minister of Luxembourg | Democratic Party | 4 December 2013 | Incumbent | 8 years, 45 days | Gay[3] | |
Leo Varadkar | Ireland | 4,761,865 (2016 census) | Taoiseach (Prime Minister) |
Fine Gael | 14 June 2017 | 27 June 2020 | 3 years, 13 days | Gay[4] | |
Ana Brnabić | Serbia | 6,926,705 (2020 estimate) | Prime Minister of Serbia | Serbian Progressive Party | 29 June 2017 | Incumbent | 4 years, 203 days | Lesbian[5] |
Sub-national[]
Denotes incumbent head of sub-national government
Name | Image | Entity | Country | Office | Mandate start | Mandate end | Term length | Sexual orientation/ gender identity |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Don Dunstan | South Australia | Australia | Premier | 1 June 1967 | 17 April 1968 | 321 days | Bisexual | |
2 June 1970 | 15 February 1979 | 8 years, 258 days | ||||||
Jerónimo Saavedra[a] | Canary Islands | Spain | President | 29 November 1982 | 4 July 1987 | 4 years, 217 days | Gay | |
11 July 1991 | 2 April 1993 | 1 year, 265 days | ||||||
Elio Di Rupo | Wallonia | Belgium | Minister-President | 15 July 1999 | 4 April 2000 | 264 days | Gay | |
6 October 2005 | 20 July 2007 | 1 year, 287 days | ||||||
13 September 2019 | Incumbent | 2 years, 127 days | ||||||
Patrick Guerriero | Melrose, Massachusetts | United States | Mayor | January 1998 | May 2001 | 3 years, 105 days | Gay | |
Christopher Cabaldon | West Sacramento, California | United States | Mayor | 1998 | 2020 | 22 years | Gay | |
Jan Franssen | South Holland | Netherlands | King's Commissioner | 3 May 2000 | 1 January 2014 | 13 years, 243 days | Gay | |
Klaus Wowereit | Berlin | Germany | Governing Mayor | 16 June 2001 | 11 December 2014 | 13 years, 178 days | Gay | |
Ole von Beust | Hamburg | Germany | First Mayor | 31 October 2001 | 25 August 2010 | 8 years, 283 days | Gay | |
Jim McGreevey | New Jersey | United States | Governor | 15 January 2002 | 15 November 2004 | 2 years, 305 days | Gay | |
Nichi Vendola | Apulia | Italy | President | 4 April 2005 | 1 June 2015 | 10 years, 58 days | Gay | |
Clemens Cornielje | Gelderland | Netherlands | King's Commissioner | 31 August 2005 | 6 February 2019 | 13 years, 159 days | Gay | |
Lynne Brown | Western Cape | South Africa | Premier | 25 July 2008 | 6 May 2009 | 315 days | Lesbian | |
Evan Low | Campbell, California | United States | 1 December 2009 | 1 December 2014 | 5 years, 0 days | Gay | ||
Allan Bell | Isle of Man | United Kingdom | Chief Minister | 11 October 2011 | 4 October 2016 | 4 years, 359 days | Gay | |
Pete Buttigieg | South Bend | United States | Mayor | 1 January 2012 | 1 January 2020 | 8 years, 0 days | Gay | |
Rosario Crocetta | Sicily | Italy | President | 10 November 2012 | 18 November 2017 | 5 years, 8 days | Gay | |
Kathleen Wynne | Ontario | Canada | Premier | 11 February 2013 | 29 June 2018 | 5 years, 116 days | Lesbian | |
Robert Biedroń | Słupsk | Poland | Mayor | 6 December 2014 | 21 November 2018 | 3 years, 350 days | Gay | |
Andrew Barr | Australian Capital Territory | Australia | Chief Minister | 11 December 2014 | Incumbent | 7 years, 38 days | Gay | |
Kate Brown | Oregon | United States | Governor | 18 February 2015 | Incumbent | 6 years, 334 days | Bisexual | |
Wade MacLauchlan | Prince Edward Island | Canada | Premier | 23 February 2015 | 9 May 2019 | 4 years, 75 days | Gay | |
Niluka Ekanayake | Central Province | Sri Lanka | Governor | 17 March 2016 | 11 April 2018 | 2 years, 25 days | Transgender woman | |
Sabaragamuwa Province | Governor | 12 April 2018 | 31 December 2018 | 263 days | ||||
Arno Brok | Friesland | Netherlands | King's Commissioner | 1 March 2017 | Incumbent | 4 years, 323 days | Gay | |
Sjoerd Potters | De Bilt | Netherlands | Mayor | 4 April 2017 | Incumbent | 4 years, 289 days | Gay | |
Eduardo Leite[6] | Rio Grande do Sul | Brazil | Governor | 1 January 2019 | Incumbent | 3 years, 17 days | Gay | |
Fátima Bezerra | Rio Grande do Norte | Brazil | 1 January 2019 | Incumbent | 3 years, 17 days | Lesbian | ||
Jared Polis | Colorado | United States | Governor | 8 January 2019 | Incumbent | 3 years, 10 days | Gay | |
Gustavo Melella | Tierra del Fuego | Argentina | Governor | 17 December 2019 | Incumbent | 2 years, 32 days | Gay | |
Claudia López Hernández | Bogotá | Colombia | Mayor | 1 January 2020 | Incumbent | 2 years, 17 days | Lesbian | |
Todd Gloria | San Diego | United States | Mayor | 10 December 2020 | Incumbent | 1 year, 39 days | Gay | |
Christopher Pappas | uMngeni Local Municipality | South Africa | Mayor | 22 November 2021 | Incumbent | 57 days | Gay |
- ^ Publicly came out after retirement, although while being a senator.
Others[]
Politicians who were closeted while in office and never officially came out or were outed only after their deaths or retirement include:
- Frederick the Great of Prussia: King of Prussia between 1740–1786, considered to have been homosexual by most historians, he had many suspected relationships with men and wrote Homoerotic poetry. Never came out although he did not do much to hide it.[7] After his death many historians tried to pass off his homosexuality as a rumor, but it is now it is widely accepted.
- William II of the Netherlands: King of the Netherlands between 1840–1849, head of government until the constitutional reform of 1848 which led to the creation of the position of Prime Minister of the Netherlands. The records and books indicate that he was either gay or bisexual; he had been blackmailed because of it.[8][9]
- Richard Hatfield: Premier of the province of New Brunswick between 1970–1987. He never officially came out as such during his lifetime; his sexual orientation only began to be discussed on the record in media and biographical sources after his death.[10][11][12][13][14]
- Canaan Banana: President of Zimbabwe between 1980–1987. Despite his denial, was found to be either gay or bisexual in 1997. After a highly publicized trial, he was convicted in 1998 of 11 sodomy and "unnatural acts", for which he was imprisoned for six months.[15][16][17][18][19]
See also[]
- List of the first LGBT holders of political offices
- List of current presidents
- List of current vice presidents
- List of current state leaders by date of assumption of office
- List of current heads of state and government
References[]
- ^ Gunnarsson, Valur (30 January 2009). "Iceland to elect world's first openly gay PM". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
- ^ Vander Taelen, Luckas (10 December 2011). "Can Belgium's new prime minister keep living the dream?". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
- ^ Gayle, Damien (15 May 2015). "Luxembourg's prime minister first EU leader to marry same-sex partner". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
- ^ Dunne, Seán (2 June 2017). "Varadkar set to be 'first openly gay Irish PM', say world headlines". The Irish Times. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
- ^ "Srbija ima novu vladu. Ana Brnabić postala premijerka. (Serbia has a new government. Ana Brnabić becomes prime minister". Dirketno.hr. 29 June 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
- ^ "Eduardo Leite, governador do RS, fala sobre homossexualidade em entrevista a Bial: 'Eu sou gay. E tenho orgulho disso'". G1 (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2021-07-02.
- ^ Blanning, T. C. W. (2016). Frederick the Great: King of Prussia. New York. ISBN 978-1-4000-6812-8. OCLC 918986371.
- ^ "Koning Willem II gechanteerd wegens homoseksualiteit".
- ^ Hermans, Dorine and Hooghiemstra, Daniela: Voor de troon wordt men niet ongestrafd geboren, ooggetuigen van de koningen van Nederland 1830–1890, ISBN 978-90-351-3114-9, 2007.
- ^ Warren Kinsella, "Not everyone loves a parade". Toronto Sun, June 26, 2011.
- ^ "Definitely out now". Perceptions, September 14, 1994.
- ^ Richard Starr, Richard Hatfield: The Seventeen Year Saga. Goodread Biography, 1988. ISBN 0887801536.
- ^ Politician Pays Price For Life On The Edge, Chicago Tribune
- ^ "Gay politicians come out of the closet and into the cabinet". The Globe and Mail, November 13, 2009.
- ^ Mark Steyn (17 November 2003). "Zimbabwe's Banana left legacy of disgrace". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2016.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
- ^ Essays in Honor of Bernth Lindfors, Volume 2, Barbara Harlow, Africa World Press, 2002, page 210
- ^ Zim's presidential rape scandal, Mail and Guardian, 28 February 1997
- ^ Taylor, Rebecca. 'They say that power corrupts – and it does'. The Guardian. 23 January 2002.
- ^ McNeil Jr, Donald G. (27 November 1998). "Zimbabwe's Ex-President Convicted of Sodomy". The New York Times (Archives). Retrieved 8 July 2007.
Categories:
- LGBT heads of government
- Lists of LGBT politicians