A great first. Several LGBT associations welcomed the arrival in Matignon of Gabriel Attal, the first openly homosexual French head of government, while calling for an “exemplary” policy in terms of equal rights. “The appointment of Gabriel Attal goes in the right direction. It illustrates the fact that in 2024, in France, it is possible to be homosexual Prime Minister,” reacts Joël Deumier, co-president of SOS Homophobia, to AFP.
“The evolution of mentalities has made this appointment possible,” he adds, evoking a “strong symbol”. This appointment “gives visibility”, adds Catherine Michaud, president of the GayLib association and member of the Radical Movement. “This can act as a positive signal for adolescents, allowing them to tell themselves that it is possible to be homosexual and Prime Minister, that it is not prohibitive. »
Aged 34, Gabriel Attal saw his homosexuality revealed in 2018 in the book “Crépuscule” by lawyer Juan Branco, a former classmate at the Alsatian School in Paris. He has since spoken about his sexual orientation in several interviews. In the show “Sept à Huit”, he particularly regretted this “outing”, which did not allow him to announce his homosexuality “when (he) wanted and in the way (he) wanted”.
“Assume” without “claiming”
Homosexuality, “I always considered that we could assume it without claiming it. I wonder if carrying it like a banner would not contribute to making it something abnormal,” he told Closer in 2019. If the symbol of his appointment is important, it “will not do everything”, underlines Joël Deumier, “especially if it is not accompanied by a strong policy in favor of equality”.
“The government which will be led by Gabriel Attal must be exemplary on LGBT subjects and in particular on that of homophobic violence and attacks,” underlines the co-president of SOS Homophobia. “The government must take these issues head on,” he continues, whether it is “PMA for trans people, the end of mutilation of intersex people and ethical GPA (surrogacy)” .
The Prime Minister’s room for maneuver on these issues looks slim, particularly regarding GPA. In April 2019, Gabriel Attal suggested that he would not be against an “ethical” surrogacy, to have a child, if it were legal in France. But Emmanuel Macron has always opposed this measure.
In the footsteps of Belgium and Iceland
With this appointment, France joins several other European countries led in recent years by LGBT men and women, such as Elio di Rupo in Belgium, Leo Varadkar in Ireland and Xavier Bettel in Luxembourg. In 2009, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir became the first openly homosexual head of government in Iceland in the West.
Ana Brnabic has held the post of Prime Minister in Serbia since June 2017. Within the French political class, things have also evolved since the coming out of the former socialist mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë on television in 1998. In recent years, several ministers or deputies have stated their homosexuality, like Clément Beaune, Franck Riester, Olivier Dussopt and Sarah El Haïry.