Head of State

Prime Minister of Serbia

b. September 28, 1975

“We want to send a signal that diversity makes our society stronger.”

In June 2017 Ana Brnabić became the first female and the first gay prime minister of the conservative country of Serbia. She is the world’s fifth-ever openly LGBT head of state.

Brnabić was born in Belgrade, the capital and largest city in Serbia. Her early education focused on science and mathematics. She received her bachelor's degree in business administration from the Northwood University of Michigan, and in 2001 earned her MBA in marketing from the University of Hull in the United Kingdom.

Brnabić worked in program management, communications and economic development for Serbian local governments, international organizations and private industry. Among her many jobs, she worked with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Belgrade as senior program coordinator for the Serbia Municipal Economic Growth Activity Sector and as director of information and public outreach for the Serbia Local Government Reform Program.

In 2007 Brnabić became the acting director in Belgrade of Booz Allen Hamilton, a leading American management consulting firm, where she led the Serbia Competitiveness Project for USAID. Brnabić also served as president of the management board of Serbia’s National Alliance for Local Economic Development. In 2011 she became the communications and strategic development director of Continental Wind Serbia, where she helped oversee investments for a wind park.

In 2016 Brnabić was appointed public administration minister of Serbia, her first political position. A year later she was elected prime minister.

As the country’s leader, Brnabić works to move Serbia closer to membership in the European Union (EU), modernize the nation, reform education, eliminate corruption and improve foreign relations, particularly with Russia, China and the United States.

According to The New York Times, roughly half the Serbian population views homosexuality as an illness. The country’s LGBT population has endured a history of discrimination, including violence during the 2010 pride march. Same-sex marriages are not legally recognized. On September 17, 2017, Brnabić marched with several hundred gay activists at the Belgrade pride march. She is the first head of state from any Balkan nation to attend a major LGBT celebration.
 
Brnabić's longtime partner, Milica Djurdjic, a doctor, gave birth to their son, Igor, in 2019. Brnabić's office issued an official statement about the birth and identified Igor as the first child in history born to the same-sex partner of a head of state.

Prime Minister of Ireland

b. January 18, 1979

“Our democracy is vibrant and robust and can survive divisive debates and make difficult decisions.”

Leo Eric Varadkar is the first openly gay Taoiseach (prime minister) of the Republic of Ireland. He is also Ireland’s youngest prime minister and the first of Indian extraction.

Varadkar was born in Dublin, the nation’s capital, and raised Catholic. His father, a Hindu, was born in Mumbai, India, and immigrated to the United Kingdom to work as a doctor. His mother, a Catholic, worked as a nurse in Slough, England. The couple moved to Dublin six years before Varadkar was born.

Varadkar attended secondary school at The King’s Hospital, a boarding school administered by the Church of England. He joined Young Fine Gael, the youth wing of Fine Gael, the Irish liberal-conservative and Christian democratic political party. Varadkar maintained his party affiliation. 

Varadkar studied medicine at Trinity College in Dublin and worked as a non-consultant hospital doctor before qualifying as a general practitioner. He earned his first significant political post in 2004 as a member of the Fingal County Council, located north of Dublin City, before serving as deputy mayor. 

As a longtime statesman, Varadkar has held important and diverse roles within the Irish government. In 2007 he was elected to the Teachta Dála, the lower house of Ireland’s parliament. He has since served consecutively as minister for transport, tourism, and sport; minister for health; and minister for social protection.

Varadkar came out in 2015 during the referendum that legalized same-sex marriage in Ireland. In June 2017, when the country formed its 31st government, he became Ireland’s prime minister and minister for defence at the age of 38.

In becoming Ireland’s first gay prime minister, Varadkar also became the world’s fourth openly gay head of government. As Taoiseach, he also leads his political party, which promotes their support of LGBT rights and families by displaying ads in the Gay Community News (GCN). 

By January 2018 Varadkar’s approval rating had reached 60%—the highest of any Irish prime minister in 10 years. A few months later, TIME magazine named Varadkar to its list of the 100 Most Influential People of the year. In May the predominantly Catholic country voted to legalize abortion. Varadkar described it as “the culmination of a quiet revolution.”  

Varadkar lives with his boyfriend, Dr. Matt Barrett, a cardiologist. In 2018 the couple marched hand-in-hand in the New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade.

U.S. President

b. April 23, 1791
d. June 1, 1868

“The test of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.”

James Buchanan was the 15th president of the United States, serving from 1857 to 1861. A lawyer and a Democrat, he represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives and later in the Senate. He served as minister to Russia under President Andrew Jackson, secretary of state under President James K. Polk and minister to Great Britain under President Franklin Pierce. 

Buchanan was born into a well-to-do family in Cove Gap, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Dickinson College, where he was known as a gifted debater. 

During his presidency, Buchanan led a country sharply divided over the issue of slavery. The Supreme Court issued the controversial Dred Scott decision two days after he took office, asserting that Congress had no constitutional power to ban slavery in the territories. It forced Buchanan to admit Kansas as a slave state, which upset Republicans and alienated some members of his own party. 

Abraham Lincoln denounced Buchanan for failing to support the elimination of legal barriers to slavery. Buchanan vetoed both the Morrill Act and the Homestead Act, which Lincoln later signed into law. Near the end of his term, Buchanan declared that Southern states had no legal right to secede, but that the federal government could not actually prevent them from doing so.

Personally opposed to slavery, Buchanan was an ardent Unionist. He undertook numerous efforts to avoid a civil war, which Lincoln as president-elect opposed.

A lifelong bachelor, Buchanan is believed to have had a long-term relationship with William Rufus King, who served as vice president under Franklin Pierce. The two men lived jointly in the same boardinghouse in Washington for a decade and regularly attended functions together. Andrew Jackson referred to them as “Miss Nancy” and “Aunt Fancy,” both popular euphemisms for effeminate men. Biographer Jean Baker believes that King’s nieces destroyed love letters between the men for fear that the nature of their “special friendship” might be revealed. At age 26 Buchanan was engaged briefly to a woman.

A memorial honoring Buchanan was unveiled in 1930 in Washington. It bears the inscription: “The incorruptible statesman whose walk was upon the mountain ranges of the law.” Counties in Iowa, Missouri and Virginia are named after him.

Prime Minister of Luxembourg

b. March 3, 1973

“I didn’t get up one morning and say, ‘Hey, I’m gay.’ It’s not a choice.”

Xavier Bettel is the prime minister of Luxembourg. A member of the Democratic Party, he became the country’s first openly gay leader in December 2013 and one of only three openly gay world leaders. Previously, Bettel served as mayor of Luxembourg city and also as a member of the city’s chamber and council. 

Bettel has described Luxembourg as a place where “people do not consider the fact of whether someone is gay or not.” The tiny European country—one of the smallest in the word with just over half a million people—is a leading financial and banking center, second only to the United States in investment funds.

As prime minister, Bettel has advocated for teaching ethics instead of religion in public schools. He is credited with reinvigorating the political scene with progressive reforms and was instrumental in passing same-sex marriage laws in the predominately Roman Catholic country. He has been vocal on social media about LGBT rights.  

Under Bettel’s leadership, Luxembourg legalized same-sex marriage in 2014. One year later, after the marriage reforms went into effect, Bettel married his partner, the architect Gauthier Destenay. Bettel is the first openly gay European Union leader and only the second gay leader in the world to marry. The couple have been civil partners since 2010. “I wish for everyone to be as happy as I am,” Bettel told a crowd gathered on his wedding day. 

Born in Luxembourg city, Bettel graduated from the University of Nancy where he received a masters degree in public and European law, followed by a post-graduate diploma in advanced studies of political science and public law. He hosted a weekly television talk show early in his career.

Bettel came out publicly in 2008.

Monarch

b. January 24, 1712
d. August 17, 1786

"The greatest and noblest pleasure which men can have in this world is to discover new truths; and the next is to shake off old prejudices. "

Frederick II, also known as Frederick the Great, ruled as King of Prussia from 1740-1786. Through innovative military tactics and tolerant domestic policies, King Frederick united previously disconnected territories on opposite ends of the Holy Roman Empire into a cohesive kingdom with Prussia

Frederick's predecessor, his father, presided over both his kingdom and his family without compassion. In 1730, when Frederick was 18 years old, he planned a getaway to England with Lieutenant Katte. Before the two men could depart, they were arrested and condemned to death for desertion. Frederick I had Katte executed in his son's presence. Frederick II escaped death and was sentenced to prison.

Frederick II received a royal pardon six months into his sentence. He ascended to the throne in 1739. He immediately began expanding Prussia's territory during the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748). During the first stage of this war, the First Silesian War (1740-1742), Frederick II captured the rich Austrian city of Silesia.

Regarded as one of the greatest tactical geniuses of all time, Frederick II used advanced techniques such as the oblique order to overwhelm foes who outnumbered Prussian forces. During his reign, Austria, France, Russia, Saxony and Sweden were allied against him as part of the Diplomatic Revolution. Frederick the Great's invasion of Saxony in 1756 initiated the Seven Years' War. Though allied with only Great Britain and Hanover, Prussia prevailed when the anti-Prussian coalition collapsed in 1763. Frederick II's ability to retain Silesia during this battle solidified Prussia's status as a power.

In addition to his military successes, which included the annexation of part of Poland in 1772, Frederick II modernized much of Prussia and fostered economic and artistic growth in his kingdom. State revenues doubled as he simultaneously promoted philosophy and the arts. A musician, Frederick the Great played the transverse flute and composed 122 sonatas and four symphonies.

Disagreeing with Machiavelli's ruthless "ends justify the means" philosophy of rule, Frederick the Great ran his kingdom according to the more modern ethical code he laid out in the "Anti-Machiavel" (1739). Under his reign, Frederick II abolished torture and corporeal punishment and provided religious freedom.

Prime Minister of Iceland

b. October 4, 1942

"Egalitarian policies are the best way to unite and empower people."

Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is the first female prime minister of Iceland and the world's first openly GLBT national leader.

Sigurðardóttir was born in Reykjavik, where she received the equivalent of a high school diploma from the Commercial College of Iceland. Her first job was as a flight attendant for what is now Icelandair. After six years in that position, she became a union organizer with the airline—a move that served as her entree into Icelandic politics.

Sigurðardóttir was elected to Iceland’s Parliament in 1978. Viewed as a rising star, she was named minister of social affairs in 1987. In 1990, she ran for the top spot in her party, the Social Democrat Alliance. She narrowly lost that race, declaring, "My time will come," which has become a common catchphrase in Iceland.

In January of 2009, following the collapse of the nation’s economy in the worldwide recession, Iceland’s president asked the Social Democrat Alliance to form a new government, which elevated Sigurðardóttir to the office of the prime minister. At the time of her appointment, she was the longest-serving member of Iceland’s Parliament.

Four months later, Sigurðardóttir’s party, along with its coalition partner, won a majority of seats in the Parliament, handing her a strong mandate to lead Iceland’s economic revitalization efforts and to work toward joining the European Union. While focusing on these important tasks, Sigurðardóttir has not forgotten the value of equity in politics. "A society that does not use the intellectual power of its female population fully is not a wise society," she says.

Sigurðardóttir was married to a man prior to coming out. She and her ex-husband are the parents of two adult children. On June 11, 2010, by a vote of 49 to 0, Iceland’s Parliament approved same-sex marriage. On June 26, 2010, the first day that legislation became effective, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir and Jónína Leósdóttir were married. 

Belgium Prime Minister 

b. July 18, 1951

“My life is a fairy tale. You could not make it up." 

Elio Di Rupo is the prime minister of Belgium and head of the Socialist Party. He is the first openly gay man to lead a nation. 

One of seven children born to Italian Catholic immigrants, Di Rupo was raised in a small town in Belgium’s French-speaking Wallonia region. His father died when Di Rupo was one year old. Because his illiterate mother was unable to raise seven children, Di Rupo and two of his siblings were raised in an orphanage.

Di Rupo earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Mons-Hainaut. As a student, he became active in the Socialist Party. In 1982, his political career began when he became a municipal councillor in Mons, where he later served as mayor. 

Di Rupo has served as a member of Parliament, a member of the European Parliament, and as Belgium’s deputy prime minister.

In 1996, Di Rupo’s personal life came under fire when he was falsely accused of having sex with underage males. During the media frenzy, he recalls being pursued by journalists, one of whom blurted out, “Yet, they say you’re a homosexual!” Di Rupo replied, “Yes. So what?” His political future was not hindered. Three years later, he was named president of the Socialist Party.

In 2011, Belgian journalist Francis Van De Woestyne documented Di Rupo’s rise from rags to riches in a biography titled “Elio Di Rupo. Une Vie, Une Vision” (One Life, One Vision). In 2012, Di Rupo was appointed prime minister by King Albert II. 

Prime Minister Di Rupo is credited with saving his nation from an economic crisis. In 2003, with Di Rupo’s support, Belgium became the second nation to legalize same-sex marriage.