While the U.S. has had a few openly gay elected officials in higher offices, it’s interesting to observe the comfort with which European mayors like Klaus Wowereit (Berlin) and Bertrand Delanoe (Paris) wield their sexuality when it comes to their peers and constituents. Delanoe has published a new autobiography, Life, Passionately, in which he lashes out at homophobia in France, champions gay marriage, and discusses his decision to come out in a TV interview in 1998: “Would not my intervention help even if only in a small way to lighten the burden of secrecy borne by so many people.”
The book sounds refreshingly articulate and Delanoe is receiving international notice for the lashing out he does at Jacques Chirac and other French government officials. Would that our mayors (aside from Gavin Newsom) could strap on the same set of balls.
