Meet the handsome Greek politician who could become the country’s first gay prime minister
still doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage.So, it came as a shock when, over the weekend, gay entrepreneur Stefanos Kasselakis was elected as the leader of Greece’s left-leaning opposition party, Syriza, becoming the first openly LGBTQ+ individual to hold the position in the organization’s history.Even more unprecedented is the fact that, at 35, Kasselakis is relatively young and inexperienced, a former businessman labeled as a “political outsider.” International news outlets like The Guardian have heralded his out-of-nowhere victory as “stunning,” while Al Jazeera reports that some see it “as a breath of fresh air for a [struggling] party.”A post shared by Stefanos Kasselakis (@skasselakis)Born in Greece in a town northeast of Athens, Kasselakis would eventually accept a scholarship that moved him to the U.S.
to attend Phillips Academy prep school in Massachusetts. He’d go on to graduate from the Wharton business school at the University Of Pennsylvania, and even spent time volunteering for then-Senator Joe Biden‘s campaign in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries.After college, he stayed stateside and worked for Goldman Sachs, the Center for Strategic and International Studies in D.C, and later founded his own shipping company, Swift Bulk.The out gay 38-year-old, who went by the moniker Héctor de Silva in movies like ‘Star Wars: A Gay XXX Parody,’ won by just 12 votes.During this time, he met and married an American nurse named Tyler McBeth.
Per The Guardian, the couple only relocated to Athens, Greece just a few months ago, where their relationship is currently recognized as a civil partnership.
With his platform, Kasselakis has vowed to legalize same-sex marriage in Greece.A post shared by Stefanos Kasselakis (@skasselakis)Throughout the campaign, McBeth has remained right at his husband’s side.
