News
Josh Withey
May 26, 2017
Something rather fantastic happened at the Nato summit in Brussels on Thursday.
As the wives and partners of world leaders - including Melania Trump, Brigitte Macron and Queen Mathilde of Belgium - gathered for a group photo opportunity, they were joined by Luxembourg's 'first gentleman' Gauthier Destenay
Destenay is the partner of Xavier Bettel, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg. The men married in 2015 after marriage equality was passed in the country.
Here he is with the partner of Slovenia's Prime Minister Mojca Stropnik and Thora Margret Baldvinsdottir, the wife of the Prime Minister of Iceland.
Picture: AURORE BELOT/AFP/Getty Images
And then they were joined by the First Lady of France Brigitte Macron, First Lady of Turkey Emine Gulbaran Erdogan, First Lady of the US Melania Trump, Queen Mathilde of Belgium, Jen's Stoltenberg's partner Ingrid Schulerud, the partner of Bulgaria's President Desislava Radeva and the partner of Charles Michel Amelie Derbaudrenghien.
Picture: AURORE BELOT/AFP/Getty Images
And look; Melania is smiling! After a week of hand slaps and looking rather miserable with the Pope, this gathering of some of the world's most powerful other halves seems to have gone down well.
Picture: YORICK JANSENS/AFP/Getty Images
Maybe she hadn't been told about that unfortunate shoving incident yet?
This moment felt like a positive step forward for LGBT rights and representation.
Bettel is currently the world's only openly gay leader as Belgium’s former Prime Minister, Elio Di Rupo, finished his mandate in 2014.
More: This map shows where it is still illegal for being gay
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