Thread by @monaeltahawy

Because the US often behaves as if it’s the centre of the universe (that unless it happens here it hasn’t happened), I would like to remind you of countries that have already had openly #LGBT heads of state:

Belgium
Iceland
Ireland
Luxembourg
Serbia

I would also like to remind you that in many of those instances, those openly #LGBT heads of state are not progressive in their politics.

Much like with the discourse on “first woman president”: the US is also lagging behind many other countries that already have had female heads of state.

In other words: what is historic for the US, is at times the US catching up with other countries.

At the moment, there are three openly gay and lesbian leaders in the world:
- Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar
- Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel
- Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic.

This is Bettel and Brnabić with their partners in September 2019 ahead of a state visit

The openly gay PMs of Ireland & Serbia are not progressive or radical in their politics.

A reminder that coming from a marginalized community does not guarantee progressive politics. Just as being a woman politician doesn’t guarantee feminist policies google.com/amp/s/amp.theg…

“She comes from a protected environment, [so] if you ask her, of course [she will say] there is no homophobia,” Dragoslava Barzut, an #LGBT+ activist. calvertjournal.com/features/show/…

*head of government, not head of state.

In some countries it’s one and the same. In others e.g. Ireland and Serbia - not the same

For more on Pete Buttigieg: read this excellent thread by @thrasherxy from April 2019. Also, must get the book “One Dimensional Queer” which explains point I was making that being a gay head of state/politician has not guaranteed a progressive platform

https://twitter.com/thrasherxy/status/1117562870194221057?s=21

https://twitter.com/thrasherxy/status/1117562870194221057