Who’s the world’s first openly gay male Prime Minister? This guy!

The new Prime Minister of the previously rudderless Belgium is 60-year old, Elio Di Rupo from the Socialist Party, who was sworn in yesterday. Di Rupo is also openly gay, making him the world’s first full-time openly gay male head of state. Go Belgium!

Norway had a gay Prime Minister in 2002, but only very briefly as interim leader, while the world’s first openly gay female head of state is Iceland’s Prime Minister, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, who assumed the role in 2009.

Belgium’s 18-month governance hiatus came to an end just this week with the acceptance by opposing political factions of a coalition government, and the swearing in of said government after 541 days of negotiations,  during which Belgium technically had no elected leadership other than a caretaker government held together by the ousted Prime Minister.

Belgium’s had a pretty tough year: not only has it been without a government for almost a year and a half, but it’s also at the centre of the EU financial crisis which is threatening economies across the region.

In March this year, Belgium became the first country since war-torn Iraq to have been without government for the longest period, which is quite an achievement in itself. The success of Prime Minister Di Rupo’s bid to lead a new coalition government rested largely on his party’s proposed economic reforms.

[Source: The Advocate]