There are few gay male icons to look up to on the global political stage. But on November 6, the small, yet trailblazing group of gay political figures was joined by another member Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics. There is only one other European Foreign Minister who has ever revealed himself to be a gay man — Guido Westerwelle of Germany. The expansion of the groups signals an era of tolerance for homosexuality in Europe. Even though these two men do come from places of privilege in their respective nations, the fact that as gay men they were able to climb the political ladder is laudable. However, much still needs to be done for LGBTQ+ rights in Germany, Latvia and the region more broadly.
The German Free Democratic Party, the now-defunct party of Guido Westerwelle, was once the leading coalition party in the ruling government. Westerwelle was openly gay and that fact was largely uncontroversial for Germany. Quite tellingly, the leading conservative tabloid made no fuss of his sexuality after the announcement of the coalition in 2009, and it has not bee overly controversial in Germany since his appointment. In 2013, Westerwelle’s term officially ended.
While he is widely accepted in Germany, Westerwelle experienced conflict and opposition abroad. In one stark example, the leader of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko stated, “It is better to be a dictator than gay,” after the German Foreign Ministry criticized Lukashenko, calling him the last dictator in Europe. But few other major instances have been noted in the international media, signaling respect for Westerwelle and his position. Westerwelle has also drawn some criticism in the media for not bringing his husband along for trips to nations that frown upon homosexuality, especially within the Middle East. These decisions were likely made out of diplomatic etiquette, after weighing the backlash that could result from such attempts to push nations on their human rights records against LGBTQ+ groups.
This is not to say that homosexuality in a non-issue around the world or in Germany. One clear example (of many) of Germany’s need to progress on the issue is the lack of proper hate crimes legislation for gay and transgender Germans. Another is the lack marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.But marriage equality may soon come. While German Chancellor Angela Merkel continues to insist that she is against it, she has more generally shown some support for gay rights. Her support includes enthusiastic congratulations on football player Thomas Hitzlsperger’s coming out, as well as the granting of equal tax rights to gay partnerships. Furthermore, despite her opposition to same-sex marriage, Merkel willingly attended Westerwelle’s wedding to his long-time partner, Michael Mronz.
As polls across the West continue to trend towards the acceptance of gay marriage, Merkel may also stay attuned to the wishes of the people. She is known to flip-flop on issues as the mood of the German voter changes, even when it comes to controversial economic and social positions. Furthermore, her coalition partner, the SPD (Social-Democrats) has continued to support gay marriage since the early 2000s, and may eventually require it in a future grand coalition agreement with Merkel’s government, which is both highly stable and well liked. Only time will tell whether Germany will soon follow much of Europe in legalizing marriage equality.
Ever since the Netherlands was the first country to legalize marriage equality, Europe has made strides to becoming a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community. Since then, most of North and West Europe has legalized gay marriage, with France andFinland being some of the most recent international cases. Additionally, anti-discrimination legislation is a requirement to join the European Union — a requirement that has been active and enforced since 2000. While this does not cover hate crimes legislation and marriage equality, it still demands fair treatment for people of all gender identities and sexualities, making strides in nations where this was not formerly possible. However, there continues to be large amounts of discrimination throughout Western Europe, and even more so in Central and East Europe. The rising Far-Right parties throughout Europe (with the exception of that in the Netherlands) threatens the stability of the equality movement.
Aside from Rinkevics’ ascension, Latvia has made little progress on gay rights due to its strong conservative and religious heritage. Latvia is one of the least accepting of European countries towards gay politicians and citizens, as noted by many surveys. Rinkevics received many warm congratulations came from Western Europe and the United States, but from within Latvia hateful comments were quite common. Many Christians in Latvia also expressed outrage at his coming out. Nevertheless, there will soon be a new push forward for LGBTQ+ rights in Latvia. Recently, there has been much discussion on partnership laws that could give some rights to gay couples in Latvia. While Rinkevics himself notes that not much progress has been made, he is highly optimistic of the future of LGBTQ+ rights in Latvia. The increasing number of gay men in high-ranking position will hopefully set the stage for further representation for sexual and gender minorities.
The signs shown by the appointments and coming out of both Westerwelle and Rinkevics may reflect significant progress; however, there is a huge gap that still remains. There have been no openly recorded Lesbian, Bisexual, Asexual, Trans* or Queer Foreign Ministers in European history, ancient or modern. For only one subset of the LGBTQ+ umbrella to be represented on the world stage is alarming. These individuals would bring valuable voices to the table. The fact that both Westerwelle and Rinkevics both are affluent, white and ethnically relatable men in his own country is also a point that must be recognized. While it is incredibly important that these two great men have held and continue to hold great influence in Europe and the world, setting important precedents for sexual minorities (both orientation and identity), there is much more progress to be made and many more people to have a say in diplomacy, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Even now, Rinkevics is the only serving, out European Foreign Minister since Westerwelle’s term ended. While progress has certainly been made, representation of all forms of diversity is critical to the moral integrity and standard for justice in European society.
**Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly referred to November 6, 2014 as the date of Rinkevics’ selection as Foreign Minister. It was actually the date he came out.
In light of the final paragraph, I’m surprised you don’t mention Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, the Icelandic lesbian prime minister who became the first openly LGBTQ+ head of state in the world in 2009.