Portrait
Elio Di Rupo
Born
18 July 1951Morlanwelz, Belgium
Politician, former Prime Minister of BelgiumBelgium75th birthday

Elio Di Rupo

A Belgian socialist who became the first openly gay man to lead a national government in modern times.

Elio Di Rupo was born in Morlanwelz in 1951. His parents had migrated from Italy, and his father died when he was very young. Despite a childhood marked by poverty, he studied chemistry and earned a doctorate at the University of Mons.

He built his political career in the French-speaking Socialist Party, becoming a federal minister, party leader and mayor of Mons. In 1996, during a wave of false allegations against him, journalists questioned him about his sexuality. He answered openly that he was gay, refusing to treat it as a reason for shame.

In December 2011, after a prolonged political crisis, Di Rupo became Belgium’s prime minister. He was the first openly gay man in modern times to head a national government, and Belgium’s first French-speaking prime minister in decades. He served until 2014.

His career also included three terms as Minister-President of Wallonia. In 2024 he was elected to the European Parliament, returning to an institution in which he had first served more than thirty years earlier. His red bow tie became a familiar feature of Belgian political life.

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