In Ireland, there is a storing possibility that an openly gay senator, David Norris, could become the next Irish president, in elections due later this year.
A poll has found that openly gay Irish Senator David Norris leads the pack seeking to be the nation’s next president.The Red C poll conducted in early January found that Norris, 66, is favored by 27 percent of voters, followed by Member of the European Parliament Mairead McGuinness at 13 percent, former Prime Minister Bertie Ahern at 12 percent, Dáil member Michael D. Higgins at 11 percent, and MEP Brian Crowley and charity executive Fergus Finlay at 10 percent.
Meanwhile, Silvio Berlusconi's current troubles have again led to public speculation that Nichi Vendola, the openly gay president of the Apulia region could be the man most likely to unite the presently fractured left wing opposition parties and lead them to victory, and so become Italy's first openly gay prime minister.
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Last year, Iceland's Johanna Sigurdardottir became the world's first openly gay prime minister.
My immediate response was to note the possibility (no more) of the first openly gay head of state, and the first gay male head of government, to follow Ms Sigurdardottir into LGBT history, just a year later. So, I did a little bit of digging, in search of other gay or lesbian in senior government ranks. To my pleasant surprise, I found that impressive though the achievements will be, if Norris and Vendola are successful, they will not be quite as ground-breaking as I thought. Norris will not be the first head of state, and Vendola will not be the first gay Prime Minister of Italy (just the first to be open about it).
In the US, last year's mid - terms brought the fourth openly gay member of Congress - out of a total of five hundred and thirty eight, less than 1%. There are still no (openly) LGBT Senators. Elsewhere, progress has gone much further. Here are just some of the openly gay men I found in just a few hours research who have reached high office in government, at cabinet level, as provincial governors, or mayors of large cities. (I will be researching the women later).
