Bertrand Delanoë
In 2001 when Bertrand Delanoë was elected mayor of Paris, the city became the world’s largest to have an openly gay mayor. In March 2008, he won reelection.
Delanoë grew up in Tunisia, a French colony at the time. His first political interest came during the Battle of Bizerte. Watching as French soldiers opened fire on Arab citizens, he felt that “an Arab should be equal to a Frenchman.” Delanoë claims it is because of colonialism that he began to identify with the left.
During his days at the Université de Toulouse, where he graduated with a degree in economics, Delanoë became involved in politics and joined the Socialist Party. At the age of 23, he was elected deputy secretary of the Aveyron Socialist Federation. Between 1973 and 2001, Delanoë held various political positions, including national secretary of the Socialist Party and member of the Paris City Council.
As mayor of Paris, Delanoë pushed an agenda for change. In an effort to reduce city traffic and pollution, Delanoë started a low-cost program that encourages Parisians to rent bikes. He worked to provide more affordable housing to encourage economically disadvantaged people to stay in the city.
In October 2002, Delanoë was stabbed. His assailant told police he targeted Delanoë because of his homosexuality.
Despite France’s political tradition of keeping one’s personal life out of the public, Delanoë came out in a French television interview in 1998. In his book, “La vie, passionnément” (“Life, Passionately”) (2004), Delanoë says he made that decision because he thought it could help, even if in a small way, “lighten the burden of secrecy borne by so many people.” On the topic of gay marriage Delanoë writes, “In the name of what can one reject this demand for equality?”
First openly gay mayor of Paris
b. May 30, 1950
“Any time there are Parisians fighting for more freedom ... I’m with them.”
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Hundreds of thousands on Saturday marched through Paris and Berlin in flamboyant Gay Pride parades with showbiz diva and gay icon Liza Minnelli mesmerising crowds in the French capital.
Minnelli, who takes to the stage later Saturday in the French capital, a city which also holds fond memories for the star of her film director father, dazzled with a brief dance routine.
"Freedom," she cried, dancing on a float festooned with multi-coloured balloons in the gay movement's symbolic rainbow hues.
Organisers said about 700,000 people attended the event but police put the number at some 200,000.
"We knew that she had a concert this evening in Paris but when her agent told us that she could come, we thought it was a joke," said Philippe Castel, the spokesman for an umbrella grouping of some 50 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender bodies.
"It's really an honour and a great pleasure to have her with us, she's an icon," he said.
"This will bring greater visibility to our fight."
But Castel said several things including marriage and adoption rights continued to elude gays and lesbians in France.
The vibrant procession included two floats blasting pop and techno music.
The event paid tribute to Stonewall -- a spontaneous New York uprising which erupted exactly 40 years ago and launched the US homosexual rights movement.
The event took its name from a New York bar, called the Stonewall Inn, which shot to global attention when its gay clientele staged a revolt against police harassment, sparking clashes for five days.
"It's been a long march. The progress accomplished has been great and gives us confidence," said Jack Lang, who as culture minister took one of the first Gay Pride marches in France in 1982.
"But we have to think very seriously about all the homosexuals in Iran, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere who are being persecuted."
Berlin's 31st Gay Pride march drew about 550,000 participants and spectators, according to local media estimates.
The parade featured floats led by one emblazoned with the slogan "Step by step towards Gay Pride. Equal rights for all."
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