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List of openly LGBTQ heads of state and government

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Incumbent openly LGBTQ national leaders:

Politicians openly identifying themselves as members of the LGBTQ community have served as national leaders in nine sovereign states. Of those countries, two have had an openly LGBTQ head of state, who serves as the country's public persona. Seven other sovereign states have had an openly LGBTQ head of government, who is the highest official in that state's government. No country has had both an openly LGBTQ head of state and openly LGBTQ head of government, nor more than one openly LGBT national leader. Additionally, no sovereign state outside of Europe has had an openly LGBTQ national leader.

Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir became the first openly LGBTQ politician to serve as a country's head of government upon the start of her tenure as Prime Minister of Iceland in 2009. Two years later, Elio Di Rupo became the first openly gay head of government upon becoming Prime Minister of Belgium. Upon assuming the office of a captain regent of San Marino on 1 April 2022, Paolo Rondelli became the first openly LGBTQ head of state.

Gay men have been the majority of openly LGBTQ national leaders, with seven of the nine politicians in this role identifying as such. The other two openly LGBTQ heads of government identify as lesbian. Other identities in the LGBTQ community, including bisexual, transgender, and intersex, have therefore not been openly represented in world heads of state and heads of government.

The totals for this list include only openly identifying members of the LGBTQ community who have come out prior to the end of their term as head of state or head of government of a United Nations member state. Therefore, LGBTQ national leaders who were closeted or outed during their tenure as a national leader are not included. Moreover, openly LGBTQ politicians who have served in other positions, such as acting president, deputy prime minister, and leaders of subnational entities, are excluded from this list.

List

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The following list includes all openly LGBTQ heads of state and government. Politicians are listed based on the start of their tenures as national leaders.

 *  denotes an incumbent leader of a sovereign state
Name Portrait Country Office Type of leader Tenure start Tenure end Term length Sexual orientation[a]
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir Portrait of Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir  Iceland Prime Minister Head of government 1 February 2009 23 May 2013 4 years, 111 days Lesbian[1]
Elio Di Rupo Portrait of Elio Di Rupo  Belgium Prime Minister Head of government 6 December 2011 11 October 2014 2 years, 309 days Gay[2]
Xavier Bettel Portrait of Xavier Bettel  Luxembourg Prime Minister Head of government 4 December 2013 17 November 2023 9 years, 348 days Gay[3]
Leo Varadkar Portrait of Leo Varadkar  Ireland Taoiseach Head of government 14 June 2017 27 June 2020 3 years, 13 days Gay[4]
17 December 2022 9 April 2024 1 year, 114 days
Ana Brnabić Portrait of Ana Brnabić  Serbia Prime Minister Head of government 29 June 2017 20 March 2024 6 years, 265 days Lesbian[5]
Xavier Espot Zamora* Portrait of Xavier Espot Zamora  Andorra Prime Minister Head of government 16 May 2019 Incumbent 5 years, 289 days Gay[6]
Paolo Rondelli Portrait of Paolo Rondelli  San Marino Captain Regent Head of state 1 April 2022 1 October 2022 183 days Gay[7]
Edgars Rinkēvičs* Portrait of Edgars Rinkēvičs  Latvia President Head of state 8 July 2023 Incumbent 1 year, 236 days Gay[8][9]
Gabriel Attal Portrait of Gabriel Attal  France Prime Minister Head of government 9 January 2024 5 September 2024 240 days Gay[10]

See also

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Footnotes

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Notes

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  1. ^ All openly LGBT national leaders have been cisgender and endosex.

Citations

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  1. ^ Gunnarsson, Valur (30 January 2009). "Iceland to elect world's first openly gay PM". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  2. ^ Vander Taelen, Luckas (10 December 2011). "Can Belgium's new prime minister keep living the dream?". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  3. ^ Gayle, Damien (15 May 2015). "Luxembourg's prime minister first EU leader to marry same-sex partner". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  4. ^ Dunne, Seán (2 June 2017). "Varadkar set to be 'first openly gay Irish PM', say world headlines". The Irish Times. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  5. ^ "Srbija ima novu vladu. Ana Brnabić postala premijerka. (Serbia has a new government. Ana Brnabić becomes prime minister". Dirketno.hr (in Serbian). 29 June 2017. Archived from the original on 24 August 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  6. ^ "El presidente de Andorra sale del armario: "Yo soy gay y nunca me he escondido"". The Objective (in Spanish). 11 September 2023.
  7. ^ Anarte, Enrique (12 January 2022). "Tiny European states play catch up on LGBT+ equality". news.trust.org. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  8. ^ "Par Valsts prezidentu ievēlēts ārlietu ministrs Edgars Rinkēvičs". LSM (in Latvian). 31 May 2023. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  9. ^ Eglitis, Aaron (31 May 2023). "EU's First Openly Gay Head of State Elected by Latvian Assembly". Bloomberg. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  10. ^ Biseau, Grégoire (31 October 2021). "Stéphane Séjourné and Gabriel Attal, a couple at the heart of power". Le Monde. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
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