List of openly LGBT heads of state and government

This is a list of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, or trans (LGBTQ) people who have been the head of state or government of a country or a subnational division such as a state, a province, or a territory. Openly LGBT people have served as national heads of state or government in Andorra, Belgium, France, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, San Marino, and Serbia.

Heads of state

  Denotes incumbent head of state

Name	Portrait	Country	Office	Political party	Mandate start	Mandate end	Term length	Sexual orientation/ gender identity
Paolo Rondelli		San Marino	Captain Regent	RETE Movement	1 April 2022	1 October 2022	183 days	Gay [1]
Edgars Rinkēvičs		Latvia	President	Unity	8 July 2023	Incumbent	1 year, 164 days	Gay [2] [3]

Heads and deputy heads of government

  Denotes incumbent head of government

Name	Portrait	Country	Office	Political party	Mandate start	Mandate end	Term length	Sexual orientation/ gender identity
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir		Iceland	Prime Minister	Social Democratic Alliance	1 February 2009	23 May 2013	4 years, 111 days	Lesbian [4]
Elio Di Rupo		Belgium	Prime Minister	Socialist Party	6 December 2011	11 October 2014	2 years, 309 days	Gay [5]
Xavier Bettel		Luxembourg	Prime Minister	Democratic Party	4 December 2013	17 November 2023	9 years, 348 days	Gay [6]
Leo Varadkar		Ireland	Taoiseach	Fine Gael	14 June 2017	27 June 2020	3 years, 13 days	Gay [7]
					17 December 2022	9 April 2024	1 year, 114 days
Ana Brnabić		Serbia	Prime Minister	Progressive Party	29 June 2017	20 March 2024	6 years, 265 days	Lesbian [8]
Xavier Espot Zamora		Andorra	Prime Minister	Democrats for Andorra	16 May 2019	Incumbent	5 years, 217 days	Gay [9]
Gabriel Attal		France	Prime Minister	Renaissance	9 January 2024	5 September 2024	240 days	Gay [10]

Deputy heads of government

Some openly LGBT people have also served as deputy prime ministers, or an analogous office, who may take the position of the acting head of government when they are temporarily absent.

Name	Portrait	Country	Office	Political party	Mandate start	Mandate end	Term length	Sexual orientation/ gender identity
Gaëtan Duval		Mauritius	Deputy Prime Minister	Social Democratic Party	21 August 1983	11 December 1988	5 years, 112 days	Gay
Guido Westerwelle		Germany	Vice-Chancellor	Free Democratic Party	28 October 2009	16 May 2011	1 year, 200 days	Gay
Etienne Schneider		Luxembourg	Deputy Prime Minister	Socialist Workers' Party	4 December 2013	4 February 2020	6 years, 62 days	Gay
Kajsa Ollongren		Netherlands	Second Deputy Prime Minister	Democrats 66	26 October 2017	1 November 2019	2 years, 6 days	Lesbian
					14 May 2020	10 January 2022	1 year, 241 days
Leo Varadkar		Ireland	Tánaiste	Fine Gael	27 June 2020	17 December 2022	2 years, 173 days	Gay
Petra De Sutter		Belgium	Deputy Prime Minister	Groen	1 October 2020	Incumbent	4 years, 79 days	Trans woman
Grant Robertson		New Zealand	Deputy Prime Minister	Labour Party	6 November 2020	25 January 2023	2 years, 80 days	Gay
Xavier Bettel		Luxembourg	Deputy Prime Minister	Democratic Party	17 November 2023	Incumbent	1 year, 32 days	Gay
Rob Jetten		Netherlands	First Deputy Prime Minister	Democrats 66	8 January 2024	2 July 2024	176 days	Gay

Sub-national leaders

  Denotes incumbent head of sub-national government

Name	Portrait	Entity	Country	Office	Political party	Mandate start	Mandate end	Term length	Sexual orientation/ gender identity
Don Dunstan		South Australia	Australia	Premier	Labor Party	1 June 1967	17 April 1968	321 days	Bisexual
						2 June 1970	15 February 1979	8 years, 258 days
Jerónimo Saavedra [a]		Canary Islands	Spain	President	Socialist Workers' Party	29 November 1982	4 July 1987	4 years, 217 days	Gay [11]
						11 July 1991	2 April 1993	1 year, 265 days
Gustavo Álvarez Gardeazábal		Valle del Cauca	Colombia	Governor	Independent	1 January 1998	27 July 1999	1 year, 207 days	Gay
Elio Di Rupo		Wallonia	Belgium	Minister-President	Socialist Party	15 July 1999	4 April 2000	264 days	Gay [5]
						6 October 2005	20 July 2007	1 year, 287 days
						13 September 2019	15 July 2024	4 years, 306 days
Jan Franssen		South Holland	Netherlands	King's Commissioner	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	3 May 2000	1 January 2014	13 years, 243 days	Gay [12]
Erling Lae		Vestfold	Norway	Governor	Conservative Party	1 June 2010	30 June 2016	6 years, 29 days	Gay [13]
Klaus Wowereit		Berlin	Germany	Governing Mayor	Social Democratic Party	16 June 2001	11 December 2014	13 years, 178 days	Gay [14]
Ole von Beust		Hamburg	Germany	First Mayor	Christian Democratic Union	31 October 2001	25 August 2010	8 years, 298 days	Gay [15]
Jim McGreevey		New Jersey	United States	Governor	Democratic Party	15 January 2002	15 November 2004	2 years, 305 days	Gay
Nichi Vendola		Apulia	Italy	President	Communist Refoundation Party	4 April 2005	1 June 2015	10 years, 58 days	Gay [16]
Clemens Cornielje		Gelderland	Netherlands	King's Commissioner	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	31 August 2005	6 February 2019	13 years, 159 days	Gay [17]
Bernhard Pulver  [ de ]		Bern	Switzerland	Member of the Executive Council	Green Party	1 June 2006	31 May 2018	11 years, 364 days	Gay [18]
Lynne Brown		Western Cape	South Africa	Premier	African National Congress	25 July 2008	6 May 2009	315 days	Lesbian [19]
Allan Bell		Isle of Man	United Kingdom	Chief Minister	Independent	11 October 2011	4 October 2016	4 years, 359 days	Gay [20]
Martin Klöti  [ de ]		St. Gallen	Switzerland	Member of the Executive Council	The Liberals	1 June 2012	31 May 2020	7 years, 365 days	Gay [21]
Cian O'Callaghan		Fingal	Ireland	Mayor	Labour Party	22 June 2012	15 June 2013	358 days	Gay [22]
Rosario Crocetta		Sicily	Italy	President	Democratic Party	10 November 2012	18 November 2017	5 years, 8 days	Gay [23]
Kathleen Wynne		Ontario	Canada	Premier	Liberal Party	11 February 2013	29 June 2018	5 years, 116 days	Lesbian
Fintan Warfield		South Dublin	Ireland	Mayor	Sinn Féin	6 June 2014	25 June 2015	1 year, 19 days	Gay [24]
Andrew Barr		Australian Capital Territory	Australia	Chief Minister	Labor Party	11 December 2014	Incumbent	10 years, 8 days	Gay
Kate Brown		Oregon	United States	Governor	Democratic Party	18 February 2015	9 January 2023	7 years, 325 days	Bisexual
Wade MacLauchlan		Prince Edward Island	Canada	Premier	Liberal Party	23 February 2015	9 May 2019	4 years, 75 days	Gay
Niluka Ekanayake		Central Province	Sri Lanka	Governor	Independent	17 March 2016	11 April 2018	2 years, 25 days	Trans woman
		Sabaragamuwa Province		Governor		12 April 2018	31 December 2018	263 days
Arno Brok		Friesland	Netherlands	King's Commissioner	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	1 March 2017	Incumbent	7 years, 293 days	Gay [25]
Andy Street		West Midlands	United Kingdom	Mayor	Conservative Party	8 May 2017	5 May 2024	6 years, 363 days	Gay [26]
Thierry Apothéloz  [ fr ]		Geneva	Switzerland	Member of the Council of State	Social Democratic Party	1 June 2018	Incumbent	6 years, 201 days	Gay [27]
Eduardo Leite		Rio Grande do Sul	Brazil	Governor	Social Democracy Party	1 January 2019	31 March 2022	3 years, 89 days	Gay
						1 January 2023	Incumbent	1 year, 353 days
Fátima Bezerra		Rio Grande do Norte	Brazil	Governor	Workers' Party	1 January 2019	Incumbent	5 years, 353 days	Lesbian
Jared Polis		Colorado	United States	Governor	Democratic Party	8 January 2019	Incumbent	5 years, 346 days	Gay
Gustavo Melella		Tierra del Fuego	Argentina	Governor	FORJA Concertation Party	17 December 2019	Incumbent	5 years, 2 days	Gay
Claudia López Hernández		Bogotá	Colombia	Mayor	Green Alliance	1 January 2020	31 December 2023	3 years, 364 days	Lesbian
Bent Høie		Rogaland	Norway	Governor	Conservative Party	1 November 2021	Incumbent	3 years, 48 days	Gay [28]
Emma Murphy		South Dublin	Ireland	Mayor	Fianna Fáil	24 June 2022	29 June 2023	1 year, 5 days	Lesbian [29]
Maura Healey		Massachusetts	United States	Governor	Democratic Party	5 January 2023	Incumbent	1 year, 349 days	Lesbian
Tina Kotek		Oregon	United States	Governor	Democratic Party	9 January 2023	Incumbent	1 year, 345 days	Lesbian
Karl Love		Isle of Wight	United Kingdom	Chair	Independent	15 May 2024	Incumbent	218 days	Gay [30]

1. Publicly came out after retirement, although while being a senator.

Others

Politicians who were closeted while in office and never officially came out or were outed only after their deaths or retirement include:

• Frederick the Great, King of Prussia between 1740 and 1786, was officially married to Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern, but he is considered to have been homosexual by most historians. He had many suspected relationships with men and wrote homoerotic poetry. He never came out, although he did not do much to hide it. ^[31] After his death, many historians tried to pass off his homosexuality as a rumor, but it is now widely accepted.
• William II, King of the Netherlands between 1840 and 1849 and head of government until the constitutional reform of 1848, was either gay or bisexual; he had been blackmailed because of his sexual orientation. ^{[32] [33]}
• Ludwig II, King of Bavaria between 1864 and 1886. Ludwig never married nor had any known mistresses. His diary, private letters, and other documents reveal his strong homosexual desires, ^[34] which he struggled to suppress to remain true to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. ^[35] Throughout his reign, Ludwig had a succession of close friendships with men, including his aide-de-camp Bavarian Prince Paul von Thurn und Taxis, his chief equerry and master of the horse, Richard Hornig, Hungarian theater actor Josef Kainz, and courtier Alfons Weber. ^{[36] [37]} Letters from Ludwig reveal that the quartermaster of the royal stables, Karl Hesselschwerdt, acted as his male procurer. ^{[38] [39] [40]}
• Prince Maximilian of Baden, German Chancellor in 1918. He was gay, and was listed as such in a document by the Baden criminal police when he was young, but married Princess Marie Louise of Hanover. He is said to have been in a relationship with geologist Wilhelm Paulcke  [ de ] from at least 1912. ^[41]
• Gustaf V, King of Sweden between 1910 and 1950, was either gay or bisexual. After his death, restaurateur Kurt Haijby revealed that he and the King had had a homosexual relationship. Haijby had threatened to reveal the relationship but was paid by the crown to keep silent. ^[42]
• Richard Hatfield, Premier of New Brunswick between 1970 and 1987, never officially came out during his lifetime; his sexual orientation only began to be discussed on the record in media and biographical sources after his death. ^{[43] [44] [45] [46] [47]}
• Canaan Banana, the first President of Zimbabwe between 1980 and 1987, was found to be either gay or bisexual in 1997, despite his denial. After a highly publicized trial, he was convicted in 1998 of 11 counts of sodomy and "unnatural acts", for which he was imprisoned for six months. ^{[48] [49] [50] [51] [52]}
• Kārlis Ulmanis, the authoritarian leader of Latvia between 1934 and 1940, was unmarried and his possible sexual orientation was actively discussed both during his reign and after the restoration of Latvia's independence. ^{[53] [54] [55]}

See also

• LGBTQ portal
• Politics portal

• List of the first openly LGBT holders of political offices
• List of current heads of state and government
• List of current vice presidents and designated acting presidents
• List of current state leaders by date of assumption of office

References

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