Gabriel Attal
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Gabriel Attal

First Gay French Prime Minister

b. March 16, 1989

“To be French in 2024 means being able to be prime minister while being openly gay.”

Gabriel Attal is the former prime minister of France. Appointed in 2024 by President Emmanuel Macron, he is both the youngest and the first openly gay person to hold the position. He is recognized for his advocacy for workers’ rights and for his efforts to streamline government operations.

Born in Clamart, Île-de-France, Attal is the son of a Tunisian Jewish father and a Russian mother. He attended École Alsacienne, a French private school, where he experienced homophobic bullying.

Attal began his political engagement in 2006 by participating in youth protests against labor deregulation. Two years later, he entered Panthéon-Assas University, where he studied law. He earned a Master of Public Affairs from the Paris Institute of Political Studies in 2012.

During the 2012 presidential campaign, Attal interned at the French National Assembly. After which, he worked for five years as an assistant to the French minister of health.

In 2017, Attal was elected to the French National Assembly, where he served on the Committee on Cultural and Educational Affairs and as the whip for the Together for the Republic group. He was named the group’s chairman in 2018. That same year, one of Attal’s former classmates outed him on Twitter. At the time, Attal was in a civil union with Stéphane Séjourné. Their union ended in 2024.

In October 2018, Attal was appointed junior minister of national education and youth. From 2020 to 2022, he served as government spokesperson under Prime Minister Jean Castexa. The high-profile position showcased his skills as a communicator and bolstered his popularity. In 2023, after a government reshuffle, Attal was appointed minister of national education and youth.

When Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne resigned in 2024, Attal was named her successor, buoyed by public support. At 34, he became the youngest and the first openly gay prime minister of France. The French prime minister is accountable to Parliament and Parliament to the president.

After Attal’s appointment, President Macron called a snap parliamentary election. Attal led the campaign for Macron’s centrist Ensemble alliance, then resigned after the party’s defeat.

In his speech during the handover ceremony for the new prime minister, Attal expressed his dissatisfaction with the brevity of his own tenure. Since then, Attal has distanced himself from President Macron, who, by law, cannot run for a third term. Attal is expected to run for the French presidency in 2027.