France has an openly gay prime minister. And it's not news

By appointing Gabriel Attal as prime minister on January 9, French President Emmanuel Macron regained the audacity and ability to surprise of yesteryear. Attal, at 34, is the youngest prime minister of the Fifth Republic. That was the news in the French and international press. But it's also the first openly gay one. And this second circumstance, although it appeared in some international headlines (especially in the United States), in France it only merited a few articles. Neither did he highlight it in his first speech – yes, his youth – nor did his allies and opponents.

The news was that it wasn't news. And there are several reasons for this. Attal doesn't hide the fact that he's gay, but he doesn't make a name for it either. He's not an activist. Another reason is that the media, in this country, is usually cautious when dealing with private life. A kind of right to indifference is practiced that leads to considering that the sexual orientation of the politician is not relevant. And it's not the first. There are precedents in Luxembourg, Ireland and Belgium. There are ministers, mayors... It may seem almost banal. That it is not news, more than the fact that a homosexual governs France, would be the true sign that society is moving forward. As if it didn't matter anymore.

"Everybody rejoices when the first black president in America or the first female prime minister is elected. Why, then, shouldn't we be able to say 'the first gay'?" asks Frédéric Martel, author of books such as Pink and Black. Homosexuals in France since 1968 and Global Gay. The Long March of Homosexuals. "Politically, he's not very important, and he hasn't been named for that," he admits. "But it has a symbolic effect. Any young person who is 13, 14, 15, 16 years old today, and who lives their homosexuality badly, at least this information will make them feel less alone, and it's positive."

The organisation SOS Homophobie has celebrated the fact that "being homosexual is no longer an obstacle to the exercise of first-rank functions". In a message on the social network X (formerly Twitter), he adds: "The important thing is actions and policies." The organization calls on you to combat violence against LGTBI people and guarantee equal rights. In the publication Manifesto XXI, Léane Alestra and Apolline Bazin, critics of Macron from the left, go further: "It is not a source of pride that Attal is the first gay prime minister, just as we will feel shame if one day Marine Le Pen [leader of the French far right] becomes the first woman president."

Some have pointed out, as a contradiction, that Attal's new government includes ministers such as the Minister of Labour, Health and Solidarity, the conservative Catherine Vautrin, who a decade ago participated in demonstrations against same-sex marriage. The daily Médiapart headlined a lengthy article about Attal: "The prime minister is gay, but not much." He has been reproached, from an activist standpoint, for not being a militant. Martel comments, "I think people have the right to expose or not expose their homosexuality." He adds: "And you're not forced to be a gay militant. Homosexuality doesn't sum up one's whole life."

Attal's homosexuality became public in 2019. The person responsible for the outing, who revealed it against his will, was a close enemy, the lawyer Juan Branco, in his book entitled Twilight. The two had shared classrooms at the elite Alsatian School in Paris and at the Institute of Political Studies, the prestigious Sciences Po. Attal, then Secretary of State for Youth, confirmed this in an interview with Libération. And in Closer magazine, he declared: "As far as homosexuality is concerned, I have always considered that it could be assumed without vindicating. I wonder if carrying it as a flag wouldn't contribute to making it an abnormal thing." Two years later, Le Monde published a report on his relationship with Stéphane Séjourné, a close collaborator of Macron and until now the leader of the liberal group in the European Parliament.

While he was rising in politics (government spokesman, minister of public accounts, head of education...), his private life was not a subject of interest. It wasn't even mentioned. Until last November, in an interview with TF1 about his plans against bullying, he explained that, as a teenager, he suffered homophobic insults from another student at the Alsatian School: "I went to the cinema with a girl he liked. That day he said to me, 'I will destroy you.' It was a supposed sexual orientation, at this time, because I didn't talk about it." He did not cite the name of the stalker, but it was understood that he was referring to Branco, the author of Twilight. Branco, on the X network, said it wasn't true.

In the aforementioned Médiapart article, sociologist Hugo Bouvard analyzes Attal's modus operandi when it comes to making his homosexuality public. He considers it to be very French: "Gay politicians in France have a double obligation: not to hide it, because dissimulation would be seen as a lack of transparency, and it would expose outing. But neither should we claim it, nor should we be ostentatious, because it is stigmatized. Attal assumes it without claiming it. He doesn't hide, but he stays discreet." So discreet that it took him being appointed prime minister, and his ex-partner, Séjourné, foreign minister, for it to be known that "two years ago" they broke up, according to Le Figaro and other media citing the latter's "entourage".

Attal's youth has been talked about inside out. As he recalled at the handover ceremony with his predecessor, 62-year-old Élisabeth Borne, the youngest president – when Macron arrived at the Elysée, he was 39 – had just appointed the youngest prime minister. "A symbol of boldness and movement," Attal said. Added together, Macron and Attal's ages are 80 years old, one younger than U.S. President Joe Biden. France as a counterweight to the American gerontocracy? The paradox, according to Le Figaro, is that this rejuvenation is taking place in an ageing country. Macronism's main source of votes is pensioners, according to polls.

Although less relevant today than Attal's age, the impact of his sexual orientation goes beyond the anecdote, according to the essayist Martel: "For someone of my generation – I remember when I was a political activist and gay, when we all had pseudonyms and met in bars so as not to do so in college in the late 9s – An openly gay prime minister was then unimaginable." Martel concludes the book Pink and Black with a chronology that brings together the milestones in the history of homosexuals in France. "I'm not saying his policy is going to be right or not, this is another debate," he says. "But the symbol, whether you like it or not, is there. It has entered history. He is the first openly gay French prime minister. In the reissue of my book, it will be on the timeline with the date of January <>."

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