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Leo Varadkar, Ana Brnabić, Edgars Rinkēvičs, Xavier Bettel
Current world leaders who are openly LGBTQ+
As of June 2023, it's still rare for a head of government to be openly LGBTQ+. Here are the four leaders currently in office or elected to the top job.
Edgars Rinkēvičs
Edgars Rinkēvičs.
NATO
Country: Latvia
Position: President-elect
Edgars Rinkēvičs was the first government official to come out in Latvia, tweeting in 2014, "I proudly announce I am gay ... Good luck all of you." When he takes office in July, he will be the first openly gay president in the Baltic nations.
Xavier Bettel
Xavier Bettel
Country: Luxembourg
Position: Prime Minister
Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg's PM since 2013, has said, “Being gay is not a choice, but not accepting it is a choice. Homophobia is a choice, and we have to fight against it!” He married his civil partner in 2015, becoming the first serving leader in the European Union to wed someone of the same sex.
Leo Varadkar
Leo Varadkar
Country: Ireland
Position: Taoiseach (Prime Minister)
Leo Varadkar took office in June 2017, two years after he came out as gay prior to Ireland's referendum legalizing same-sex marriage. He is the first openly gay Irish PM. “I feel privileged to be gay in Ireland. We should not forget that only 30 of the 190 countries in the world have marriage equality. In 70 countries, it’s still criminalized,” says Varadkhar.
Ana Brnabić
Ana Brnabić
Country: Serbia
Position: Prime Minister
When Ana Brnabić took office in June 2017, she became not only Serbia's first gay prime minister but also its first female PM. “Serbia is changing and changing fast, and if you will, I am part of that change, but I do not want to be branded ‘Serbia’s gay PM’. The message we need to send is about competence, professionalism, and trustworthiness,” Brnabić said.
The Graphic Truth: Worlds Apart on LGBTQ Rights
LGBTQ+ rights are not distributed equally around the globe. While some countries are taking progressive steps toward equal rights, just as many are implementing discriminatory and dangerous anti-LGBTQ legislation. From Latin America to Oceania, members of the LGBTQ+ community still face repression, imprisonment, and even death threats.
On the positive side: A Japanese court ruled last week that a ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, paving the way toward legalization. Also, in 2022 we saw Cuba and Switzerland add themselves to the list of countries that recognize same-sex unions.
Meanwhile, Uganda signed the world’s toughest anti-LGBTQ laws in May, mandating the death penalty for homosexual acts and 20-year prison sentences for anyone who promotes homosexuality. In the US, there are currently 491 anti-LGBTQ bills in state legislatures. While not all of them will become law, they all hurt the LGBTQ community – both domestically and globally. After all, each domestic effort also reflects a weakening US resolve to stand up for LGBTQ rights on the global stage.
We take a look at the landscape of rights for same-sex couples around the globe.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 7, known as the “stop woke act,” in Florida, on April 22, 2022.
Ron DeSantis and the latest battle over Black history
As Black History Month begins today in the US, the country’s latest culture war battle is about … Black history.
On Wednesday, the College Board, a national nonprofit that sets educational standards for colleges, is set to release the framework for a new Advanced Placement course in African American history.
The course has been in the culture war crosshairs since Ron DeSantis, the popular conservative governor of Florida, last week nixed a pilot version of the curriculum from his state’s public high schools, saying it violates his 2022 “Stop WOKE ACT,” which aims to limit the teaching of progressive ideas such as “Critical Race Theory.”
If you’re unfamiliar with the US education system,AP programs are college-level courses for high school students.
If you’re unsure what Critical Race Theory is, it’s an academic approach that argues that racial hierarchies and discriminatory norms have shaped our social, legal, and economic systems, and that racism remains woven into those systems even in the absence of explicitly racist laws.
At issue in Florida are several sections of the AP course that draw on critical theory approaches to address criminal justice, the experiences of non-heterosexual Black people, and reparations for slavery.
DeSantis’ critics say he is censoring certain subjects for political reasons and that he is unfairly singling out African American studies for special scrutiny. A court has already partially blocked application of the Stop WOKE Act over free speech concerns, and Florida students backed by a prominent civil rights attorney have already threatened to sue DeSantis over the AP decision. On Tuesday, DeSantis doubled down, announcing that he now wants to prohibit state universities from spending money on “diversity, equity, and inclusion” initiatives, which aim to broaden the racial and ethnic backgrounds of the student body and staff.
DeSantis, one of America’s foremost conservative culture warriors, says he’s preventing he “indoctrination” of students with ideas that he and his supporters say foment social conflict rather than national unity. Florida’s existing African American history requirements, he points out, already include a focus on the legacies of slavery and racism.
The intrigue: What will the final version of the course look like? The College Board, which took several years to develop the course, has reportedly said it won’t make changes based specifically on Florida’s reaction. If that’s true, the culture war battle lines will be as crisply drawn as ever.
One thing is certain: The move to ban the course is good politics for DeSantis if he wants to inherit — or swipe — the mantle of GOP leadership from Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Arecent poll shows nearly 80% of Republicans oppose teaching “Critical Race Theory” and that 43% oppose teaching about racism at all.
Small wonder that DeSantis’ fellow Republican, Nikki Haley, who harbors higher office ambitions of her own, weighed in with a tersely tweetedswipe at CRT herself earlier this week.
What do you think? Is DeSantis protecting kids from indoctrination, or is he censoring legitimate academic viewpoints? Let us know here (**hides under desk**) – and if you include your name and location, we might publish your response.
French President Emmanuel Macron
Hard Numbers: Macron’s pension fireworks, US and Europe’s inflation woes, Russia’s LGBTQ crackdown, Big Tech’s bad week
65: French President Emmanuel Macron plans to implement pension reform and deliver on his vow of raising the retirement age by three years to 65 by 2031. Expect uproar! If there’s one thing the French hate more than politicians, it’s government interference with the national pension scheme.
7: The weekly rate on 30-year fixed mortgages in the US topped 7% on Thursday – a two-decade high – as a result of the US Federal Reserve's continued effort to rein in inflation. Meanwhile, facing similar inflationary pressure, the European Central Bank on Thursday raised interest rates by 0.75 percentage points. Some analysts believe the bank will soon pump the brakes on steep hikes, fearing Europe’s sluggish growth prospects.
400,000: The Russian Duma looks set to pass a law banning so-called “LGBTQ propaganda,” with offenders facing fines of up to 400,000 rubles ($6,500) and non-Russians facing the risk of expulsion. This builds on a 2013 bill that made sharing information about LGBTQ lifestyles with children a criminal offense.
550 billion: It has been a horrible, no good, very bad week for Big Tech, which has seen more than $550 billion wiped away in shared market value after companies including Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft recorded weak seasonal earnings. One of the biggest losers was Meta, which saw its stock market value plummet this year as Wall Street lost faith in Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse.A model of a natural gas pipeline, a Euro banknote and a torn EU flag placed on a Russian flag.
Hard Numbers: EU gas price dip, Swedish camera thieves, Myanmar festival attack, Qatar vs. LGBTQ
100: The cost of burning natural gas to produce a megawatt hour of electricity in Europe has dipped below 100 euros ($99) for the first time since Russia began cutting supplies to the EU earlier this year. Experts say milder-than-expected weather and topped-up storage units are to thank for the price relief. Can it last?
160: Swedish police are investigating at least 160 recent midnight thefts of speed trap cameras on public roads. No one is sure who’s doing it, but the fact that thieves are routinely making off with specific camera parts has given rise to a weird theory: Is heavily sanctioned Russia behind the heists as a way to get dual-use technology for its drones?
60: Myanmar’s military junta sent fighter jets to attack a festival held by the ethnic separatists of the Kachin Independence Army, killing as many as 60 of the group’s members late Sunday. Since seizing power almost two years ago, the dictatorship has faced stiff resistance from an array of ethnic militias.
6: Authorities in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal, have detained and abused at least six LGBTQ Qataris for “immoral activity” since 2019, according to Human Rights Watch. The 2022 FIFA World Cup begins in the Gulf kingdom next month.A demonstrator holds a sign reading "No more Core Group (a group of international diplomats), no more BINUH (the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti)" during a protest against the government in Port-au-Prince.
Hard Numbers: Haiti's looted aid, Cuba’s gay marriage breakthrough, Kazakhstan’s red carpet for Russians, India’s “anti-national” crackdown
6 million: Amid recent protests over Haiti’s soaring food and fuel costs, looters have swiped at least $6 million worth of UN humanitarian aid, including thousands of tons of food. The UN now says the Caribbean nation is on the brink of “humanitarian catastrophe.”
66.9: In Cuba, 66.9% of voters approved a new, government-backed “Family Code” that legalizes same-sex marriage and adoption. Reuters notes that the 33% “no” vote was uncharacteristically large by the standards of Cuba’s one-party state. The referendum was the first since the widespread legalization of mobile internet access.
100,000: Nearly 100,000 Russians have fled to Kazakhstan since Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilization. Kazakhstan says it is ready to welcome them and “ensure their safety.” Ties between the two former-Soviet giants have been strained since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
57: Police in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, arrested 57 people linked to the Popular Front of India, an Islamic organization that the government accuses of violence and “anti-national activities.” In recent weeks, the Indian government has cracked down on the PFI in a number of states. Critics of the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP say it discriminates against Muslims.
This article comes to you from the Signal newsletter team of GZERO Media. Sign up today.The Graphic Truth: LGBTQI identification vs. social acceptance
International polls often gauge what percentage of a given population identify as LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex). But the willingness of people to divulge their gender identification and sexual preference is likely influenced by social and cultural attitudes towards LGBTQI people. In Saudi Arabia, for instance, where same-sex sexual acts can be punishable by death, no one is going to be upfront about their sexual proclivities. We look at the percentage of people who identify as LGBTQI in G20 countries, as well as how each of these countries rank on UCLA Law School’s LGBTI Social Acceptance Index.
This comes to you from the Signal newsletter team of GZERO Media. Subscribe for your free daily Signal today.
US President Joe Biden
Hard Numbers: Biden’s pardon powers, Beijing learns from Shanghai, Japan unveils relief package, Russia’s “anti-gay” machoism
3: Using his executive clemency powers for the first time, President Joe Biden on Tuesday pardoned three people and shortened scores of other sentences. The most high-profile person to get clemency was Abraham W. Bolden, the first Black Secret Service agent to serve in a presidential detail. He was found guilty of bribery charges but has maintained his innocence. The other two pardonees were incarcerated for drug-related offenses.
20 million: With just a few dozen cases identified, authorities will test Beijing’s 20 million residents for COVID-19 in an attempt to avoid the citywide lockdown seen in Shanghai, which caused widespread social dislocation and a government backlash. Concurrent lockdowns in Shanghai and Beijing would further disrupt China’s economic output.
8: Vitaly Milonov, the lawmaker who pioneered Russia’s anti-gay “propaganda” legislation, which banned the “promotion of non-traditional sexual relations,” is hosting a new YouTube show called “I’m not gay.” The weird series tests the heterosexuality of eight participants with the aim of outing the one among them who’s indeed gay.
6.2 trillion: Japan’s government unveiled a 6.2 trillion yen economic relief package to help families and small businesses deal with the rising cost of living as a result of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The yen’s value against the US dollar has tumbled to a 20-year low, creating disagreement among policymakers on whether Tokyo should continue its tactic of pursuing a weaker currency for its export-reliant economy.