Eastern Europe was once a world lear on gay rights. Then ran out of spegoats | CNN

Contents:

• "THE PRIME MISTER AND HIS HBAND": GAY LEARS AROUND THE WORLD
• LATVIA BE 7TH NATN TO BE LED BY AN OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE
• EASTERN EUROPE WAS ONCE A WORLD LEAR ON GAY RIGHTS. THEN RAN OUT OF SPEGOATS
• GAY WORLD LEARS ARE STILL EXTREMELY RARE
• GAY WORLD LEARS

"THE PRIME MISTER AND HIS HBAND": GAY LEARS AROUND THE WORLD

1/11 Cred(Guillermo Gutierrez Carrasl/SOPA Imag/LightRocket/Getty Imag)View as articleJune 1 marked the start of Pri month, acknowledged by untri across the globe as a time to memorate the LGBTQ+ Pri month is wily celebrated, LGBTQ+ rights are still subject to bate much of the world, wh many untri divid over gay marriage, genr-affirmg re for transgenr mors and other legislatn affectg the LGBTQ+ muny. Lawmakers Latvia’s legislature elected Rkēvičs to serve as print wh 52 vot May, makg him the European Unn’s first openly gay head of 2014, Rkēvičs tweeted that Latvia “mt create a legal amework for all kds of partnerships, I will fight for , I know that there will be mega hysteria right away, but #Proudtobegay. When she entered ernment as mister of public admistratn and lol ernment 2016, Brnabić told the Associated Prs, "Hopefully this will blow over three or four days, and then I won't be known as the gay mister.

In the nservative untry, Serbia’s nstutn f marriage as a unn between a man and a woman and gay civil partnerships, such as the one Brnabić is wh her partner, are not officially regnized.

LATVIA BE 7TH NATN TO BE LED BY AN OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE

Addnally, same-sex upl are not allowed to adopt Febary 2019, Brnabić and her partner weled their first child via artificial sematn, acrdg to the Varadkar4/11 Cred(Peter Morrison/AP)View as articleLeo VaradkarCountry: IrelandPosn: Prime MisterTime Office: June 2017-PrentLeo Varadkar beme Ireland’s first openly gay prime mister when he took office 2017. "I am a gay man, 's not a secret, but not somethg that everyone would necsarily know, " Varadkar said, acrdg to The Irish Tim. ”Next:Xavier Bettel5/11 Cred(Geert Vann Wijngaert/AP)View as articleXavier BettelCountry: LuxembourgPosn: Prime MisterTime Office: December 2013-PrentXavier Bettel is the first openly gay prime mister of Luxembourg, a largely Roman Catholic natn.

Ronlli’s appotment, a untry where homosexualy was punishable by jail until 2004, ma him the first openly LGBTQ head of state the world.

”Next:El Di Rupo7/11 Cred(BRUNO FAHY/BELGA MAG/AFP/Getty Imag)View as articleEl Di RupoCountry: BelgiumPosn: Prime MisterTime Office: December 2011-2014El Di Rupo beme Belgium’s first openly gay lear when he took office as prime mister December 2011.

EASTERN EUROPE WAS ONCE A WORLD LEAR ON GAY RIGHTS. THEN RAN OUT OF SPEGOATS

Di Rupo opened up about this sexualy to reporters after beg acced of havg sex and abg unrage mal, somethg he stnchly Rupo told a bgrapher that 1996, as he was beg followed by journalists, one shouted at him “They say you’re a homosexual, ” to which Di Rupo rpond: "Y.

"In 2014, at the EU-Ai summ Bssels, Di Rupo addrsed Ain and European lears, urgg them to acknowledge and rpect the rights of mori, cludg gay men and women.

1, 2009, when she beme Iceland's first female prime mister and the world's first openly gay head of ernment.

GAY WORLD LEARS ARE STILL EXTREMELY RARE

Saavedra, who also served the Spanish Senate and as mayor of Las Palmas, the pal cy of the Canary Islands, was the first openly-gay polician Spa.

Saavedra did not talk about his sexualy until 2000, a year to his senate posn, when on a tour of Spa discsg a book on outg, he announced he was gay. Saavedra told El Mundo that Spa’s post-Fran society was still reprsive, “wh many homophobic habs” still the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party.

To date, there have been five openly LGBTQ+ people who have served as a natnal head of ernment, Iceland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, and Serbia -- but gay, bisexual, lbian, and even transgenr lears have guid natns sce time immemorial. That he sat on the throne named Neferkare leads many scholars to believe the tale Kg Neferkare and General Sase, which scrib a gay relatnship between a pharaoh and his general, was fact about Pepi, though Egyptologists ntue to bate if the story was tth or fictn.

GAY WORLD LEARS

The dictator of the cy of Athens 514, Hipparch had ma a sexual advance toward the openly gay Harmodi and was rejected multiple tim, acrdg to historian Thucydis. The ler of England om 1087 to 1100, Kg William II was gay, acrdg to the wrer Eadmer, though effemate mannerisms and fashn choic seemed his primary evince.

The grand de of Tny om 1621 until 1670, Ferdando married and produced children, but also quarreled wh his mother, Maria Madla of Atria, about whether homosexualy should be outlawed. Historians say the mother once gave her son a list of reported gay people and said that they should be burned.

Likely Ameri's first gay print, Democrat Jam Buchanan won the electn of 1856 -- rallyg support om the slaveholdg stat the origal Southern Strategy. In addn to beg the first openly gay prime mister of the island natn, the 38-year-old was the youngt head of ernment for the untry and the first member of an ethnic mory to hold the post (his father is an Indian immigrant). She beme the first lear of any untry the Balkans to attend a gay pri march, sayg “For me, this is a way to make an active ntributn to alg wh stereotyp and prejudic.

El Di Rupo was the Prime Mister of Belgium, and the first openly gay man (and the send LGBT person) to lead a untry.

One of the most strikg moments was when a journalist a media pack chasg him down the street cried, “Yet they say you’re a homosexual! All hail Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, the first gay Prime Mister of Iceland, and the first LGBTI lear of a untry anywhere the world. As one would expect, most gay world lears have belonged to progrsive parti and pursued progrsive agendas, mirrorg the beliefs of the people that elected them.

Latvia swore the first openly gay print of a Baltic natn Rkēvičs, who sce 2011 was the untry’s foreign mister, was elected by Parliament May after Print Egils Levs did not seek re-electn.

”Rkēvičs “proudly” announced he is gay on Twter November 2014, though the untry, a former Soviet republic, is not pecially LGBTQ-clive. She is thought to be the first openly gay prime mister the was an active unnist her nearly 10 years workg as a flight attendant, acrdg to the Council of Women World Lears, a work of female heads of state.

After the accatn, he said, he was chased down the street by reporters, one of whom yelled, “Yet they say you’re a homosexual! ”Xavier Bettel Prime Mister of Luxembourg (2013-prent)Luxembourg Prime Mister Xavier Bettel at a news nference Belgra, Serbia, on July Vojovic / APBettel was first elected prime mister of Luxembourg 2013, and 2018 he beme the first openly gay prime mister the world to be re-elected for a send marriage beme legal Luxembourg 2015, and the same year Bettel beme the first servg European Unn lear to marry a same-sex partner, the BBC recently cricized a Hungarian law that bans school tnal materials and TV shows for people unr 18 that are emed to promote LGBTQ ntent, Rters reported.