"The Freedom To Love..."

Luxembourg’s Gay Premier Marries

Greeted by scores of well-wishers outside city hall after the private ceremony, the couple, in dark suits and ties, waved to the crowd. Bettel, a liberal whose election 18 months ago ended decades of conservative rule in the traditionally Catholic country, hugged Destenay and said: “Luxembourg can set an example.”

Fellow youthful EU prime ministers Charles Michel, 39, of neighbouring Belgium, and Estonia's Taavi Roivas, 35, attended the civil ceremony conducted by Bettel's political ally and successor as mayor of the city of Luxembourg.

“I came to the wedding of a friend. It's a great moment for him and I had to be present,” Michel told Belgium's RTBF radio.

Bettel, a lawyer by training, publicly came out as gay in a radio show seven years ago. Destenay, already his boyfriend at the time, had still not come out.

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