Ian Johnson, Out Now
September 5, 2007
Gay and lesbian people are truly everywhere and - as Harvey Milk implored back in the 1970s - 'coming out' really can set you free and unleash your true potential.
The openly gay mayor of Paris - Monsieur Bertrand Delanoe - is a very striking example of this and in a successful career as a French socialist politician, has evolved to become something of a lesbian and gay role model.
He is also tipped to be considering a tilt for the French Presidency in 2012 elections in France, making him the world's first gay head of state. Now wouldn't that be something?
Delanoe is far from even close at this stage to mounting a serious campaign, but the fact that a gay man is being discussed in such terms says something about the oftentimes slow progress of acceptance of gay equality.
Progress? Most definitely. Slow progress? Yes. But progress nonetheless.
This is an extract from the Independent that discusses the power of the unstoppable gay mayor of Paris - Bertrand Delanoe.
A new star is rising on the French Left, propelled by pedal power, loathing of Ségolène Royal and the conviction that the French love affair with Nicolas Sarkozy cannot last.
Bertrand Delanoë, 56, the popular mayor of Paris, has the small matter of his own re-election to contend with next Spring. No matter. His friends and allies are convinced that only he can rescue the divided and quarrelsome Parti Socialiste from a permanent takeover by the defeated but unbowed presidential candidate, Mme Royal.
M. Delanoë made the first, clear statement of his own national ambitions this week with a biting attack on both Mme Royal and President Sarkozy in an article in Le Monde before the Socialist party summer school opens in La Rochelle tomorrow.
He accused Mme Royal's failed election campaign of being a triumph of "marketing" over "substance and values" and even over "ethics".
There is no doubting M. Delanoë's ability or his high reputation in Paris as an innovative, tax-payer-friendly politician. His popularity has been boosted in recent weeks by the immense success of a cheap, self-service bicycle scheme, which has transformed Paris into a kind of Gallic Amsterdam.
However, one largely unspoken shadow hangs over M. Delanoë's ambitions. The mayor of Paris is the only high-profile politician in France to have declared his homosexuality. In cosmopolitan Paris, this is not an electoral handicap. The same is not true in La France Profonde.
A senior provincial figure in the Parti Socialiste, (and a Mme Royal supporter) told The Independent yesterday: "Being mayor of Paris is already a drawback in some parts of the provinces. Being a homosexual mayor of Paris, well, it just doesn't wash, not with party activists and certainly not with the mass of the electorate.
"France may or may not have been ready to elect a woman as President. Unfortunate though it may seem in the early 21st century, France is not yet ready to contemplate a gay President."
The French mainstream media prefers not to address the issue. The usually outspoken, centre-left newspaper, Libération, devoted its first three pages to M. Delanoë yesterday without raising the question of whether his homosexuality makes his national ambitions doomed to failure.
In an opinion poll last week only seven per cent of those questioned identified M. Delanoë as the most likely person to restore the fortunes of the French Left.
In six years as mayor of Paris, M. Delanoë, has built a reputation as a practical, imaginative politician. He has, on the whole, delivered his promises to make the capital a greener place, friendlier to poorer residents, without soaking richer tax-payers.
Delanoë supporters say that this is typical of the new thinking that he is prepared to bring to national politics. He is not afraid of partnerships with private enterprise but he keeps clear social and environmental goals in mind.
In some ways – sexual orientation apart – M. Delanoë resembles the new Socialist leader across the Channel, Gordon Brown. Both are austere, acerbic men, more interested in results than "spin" or marketing.
In any case, President Sarkozy does not regard the unseating of M. Delanoë as a priority. Rightly or wrongly, the new President does not regard the Mayor of Paris as a serious threat in the presidential election of 2012.
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