Carl Austin-Behan

Carl Jason Austin-Behan OBE (born 1972) is a British former politician and community activist who currently serves as LGBT adviser to the Mayor of Greater Manchester. He served as Lord Mayor of Manchester from May 2016 to May 2017, being its first openly gay Lord Mayor. He was Labour councillor for Burnage from 2011 to 2018.[1]

Carl Austin-Behan

OBE
Austin-Behan as Lord Mayor (2016)
Lord Mayor of Manchester
In office
13 May 2016 – 17 May 2017
Preceded byPaul Murphy
Succeeded byEddy Newman
Personal details
Born
Carl Jason Austin-Behan

1973 (age 47–48)
Crumpsall, Manchester
EmployerRoyal Air Force
Manchester City Council
AwardsMr Gay UK (2001)
Spouse(s)
Simon Austin-Behan
​
(m. 2015)​
Websitetwitter.com/CarlAustinBehan

He served in the RAF from April 1991 until October 1997 and in 2001, aged 29, he won Mr Gay UK.[2]

Early life and education

Austin-Behan was born in north Manchester and grew up in Crumpsall.[3]

Career

He was discharged from the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1997 for being gay at a time when it was illegal to be openly gay in the RAF.[4][5]

He was elected to Manchester City Council as Labour Member for Burnage ward in May 2011.[3][5] In 2016 he was made Lord Mayor of Manchester,[3][6][7] and his term ended in May 2017.[8] He was Manchester's first openly gay Lord Mayor[5][9] and one of its youngest at 44.[3] In November 2017 Labour deselected him as the Labour candidate for the local elections in May 2018. He said that he was "hurt, upset and gutted" to have been deselected in favour of Momentum candidate Ben Clay.[10]

In August 2018, he was appointed LGBT advisor to Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham.

Awards and honours

Personal life

Austin-Behan married his partner of 12 years, Simon Behan in December 2015.[13] In May 2016 the Metro reported that the couple were in the process of adopting a child.[13]

See also

References
  1. Carl Austin-Behan on Twitter
  2. "Past Winners". Mr Gay UK. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  3. "The Lord Mayor's Office: The Lord Mayor of Manchester: Councillor Carl Austin-Behan". Manchester City Council. Archived from the original on 24 October 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  4. Williams, Jennifer (16 May 2016). "Manchester to swear in its first ever openly gay Lord Mayor". Manchester Evening News. Manchester. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  5. Halliday, Josh (24 October 2016). "Manchester lord mayor 'subjected to homophobic abuse at Justin Bieber gig'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  6. Williams, Jennifer (19 May 2016). "Manchester's first ever openly gay Lord Mayor sworn in - with an Abba quote". Manchester Evening News. Manchester. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  7. Street-Porter, Janet (20 May 2016). "Manchester is a city that deserves a better mayor than Andy Burnham". The Independent. London. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  8. Williams, Jennifer (16 May 2017). "Interesting, amazing and knackering! Carl Austin-Behan on his year as Lord Mayor of Manchester". Manchester Evening News. Manchester. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  9. Peraudin, Frances (17 May 2016). "Manchester to swear in first openly gay lord mayor". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  10. Williams, Jennifer (2 November 2017). "Manchester's first openly gay mayor blocked from standing for election as Momentum gain ground". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  11. "New Year Honours" (PDF). assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. 2020. Retrieved 2019-12-28.
  12. "No. 62866". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 December 2019. p. N11.
  13. Nagesh, Ashitha (18 May 2016). "Former Mr Gay UK kicked out of RAF for his sexuality sworn in as Lord Mayor". Metro. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
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