Gauthier Destenay and Xavier Bettel at the city of Luxembourg's Vide Grenier in the summer of 2013 Olivier Minaire

Gauthier Destenay and Xavier Bettel at the city of Luxembourg's Vide Grenier in the summer of 2013  Olivier Minaire

In an article entitled “Luxembourg premier joins vanguard of gay leaders”, the Los Angeles Times has revealed that prime minister Xavier Bettel will marry his civil partner, Gauthier Destenay, when legislation allowing same sex marriage comes into effect.

In the interview with Henry Chu, the prime minister does not name a date for the wedding – the couple will have to wait until at least 1 January 2015, when the legislation passed in June becomes law.  He does, however, reveal that it was Destenay who popped the question. "He asked me, and I said yes."

The news has made headlines in Luxembourg and in gay media around the world, though Bettel does not see it as that big a deal politically. "I have just one life, and I don't want to hide my life," Bettel says in the LA Times. "But I was not the 'gay candidate.' … People didn't vote for me because I'm gay or I'm straight."