French-speaking Socialist Elio di Rupo has become the first out gay leader in the European Union, having been elected the premier of Belgium, according to the Wall Street Journal. Di Rupo, 60, is the mayor of the city of Mons and is a former chemistry professor. Di Rupo—who sports a bowtie and floppy hair, and who swears by abdominal crunches—came out in the late 1990s when questioned by journalists.
Speaking with the author of Elio Di Rupo: A Life, A Vision, he remembered the media pursuing him down a street, with one journalist saying, “Yet they say you’re a homosexual!,” according to the BBC. “I turned around and shot back: ‘Yes. So what?’ I will never forget that moment… For several seconds there was silence… People were so surprised by my reply they stopped jostling each other. It was a sincere, truthful reply.”
He was been criticized for not having excellent command of Dutch—which 60 percent of Belgians speak. Di Rupo has promised to master the language and deliver his responses in parliament “in Dutch, with mistakes.”