Luxembourg’s Prime Minister says everyone has a duty to challenge hate speech
Xavier Bettel is one of three openly gay and lesbian leaders in the world
By Steve Brown
Words: Steve Brown
Luxembourg’s Prime Minister said everyone has a duty to challenge hate speech.
Xavier Bettel is one of three openly gay and lesbian leaders in the world along the likes of Irish PM Leo Varadkar and Serbia’s Ana Brnabic and married his partner back in 2015, becoming the first in the European Union to have a same-sex marriage.
In a new study by researchers at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, they found homophobia had risen in European countries that did not legally recognise same-sex relationships.
And while speaking at the United Nations, Bettel said everyone has a duty to challenge hate speech, including other world leaders.
During the LGBTQ meeting at the UN’s annual General Assembly, Bettel said: “We are all part and we all have a responsibility.
“This starts from … your politicians but it goes also to a family evening, to dinner with friends, with family. If they have hate speech you can never accept it.”
He also went on to say that homophobia was a ‘personal choice’ and has to be fought against and that being gay was not a choice.