French politician Bertrand Delanoë was BOTD in 1950. Born in Tunis, Tunisia to a French mother and a French-Tunisian father, his family moved to France in 1956 following Tunisia achieving independence from French rule. His parents separated when he was 13, and he was raised by his mother in Rodez, Aveyron. He studied at University of Toulouse, joining the Socialist Party when he was 21. Talent-spotted by French President and Socialist Party leader François Mitterand, he was elected to the Council of Paris in 1977. Elected to the Assemblée nationale (the lower house of the French Parliament) in 1981, he lost his seat in the 1986 general elections, though remained with the Paris Council and founded a public relations business for teacher and student organisations. He returned to public attention in 1993 when he became leader of the Socialist group of the Paris Council. Elected to the Sénat (the French Parliament’s upper house) in 1995, he served as secretary of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence. He came out as gay in a television interview in 1998 to almost universal public and media support. In 2001, he became the first openly gay man to be elected Mayor of Paris, leading a left-wing coalition. As mayor, he introduced a series of popular initiatives to improve the quality of life in Paris, including constructing beaches on the banks of the Seine every summer (known as the Paris-Plages), cutting down on vehicular traffic in the city by creating pedestrianised zones, introducing a city-wide bicycle hire service and instigating Nuites Blanches where museums and galleries stayed open all night. He also advocated for better access to public and cultural services for LGBTQ people, including city shelters for homeless LGBTQ teens. After surviving an assassination attempt in 2002, he was re-elected in 2008 for a further term, retiring from public office in 2014. Like most French public figures, little is known about his personal life; his current relationship status is unknown.