TIME: “Europe’s Gay Leaders: Out at The Top”

TIME: “When Iceland installed Johanna Sigurdardottir as Prime Minister last February, newspapers around the globe printed variations of the same headline: ICELAND APPOINTS WORLD’S FIRST GAY LEADER . . . Elven openly gay men and women now serve in the British Parliament, including two in the Cabinet. Last June, Nicolas Sarkozy appointed Frédéric Mitterrand, a gay television presenter, to the post of Minister of Culture. Paris’ Mayor Bertrand Delanoë, tipped by some to contest the 2012 presidential race, is gay. And Guido Westerwelle, chairman of Germany’s Free Democratic Party, has just become his country’s Foreign Minister, joining a gay élite that includes the mayors of Berlin and Hamburg, Germany’s two largest cities . . . ”