With all the strife in the world, a glam photo-op with the spouses of world leaders might not seem very important. But at a NATO summit in Brussels this week, Gauthier Destenay—husband of Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel—took his place alongside Brigitte Macron of France, Queen Mathilde of Belgium, and yes, Melania Trump at a dinner for the First Ladies and Queen at the royal castle in Laeken.

And that matters.

Bettel became prime minister in 2013, the first openly gay world leader since Iceland's Johanna Sigurðardóttir and Belgium’s Elio Di Rupo, who left office in 2013 and 2015, respectively. He and Destenay, an architect from Belgium, wed two years ago, after Luxembourg approved marriage equality.

“I have just one life, and I don’t want to hide my life,” Bettel said at the time. “But I was not the ‘gay candidate.’ People didn’t vote for me because I’m gay or I’m straight.”

Publicly, the two have presented themselves much like any other First Couple, even being received by Pope Francis last month to celebrate the European Union's 60th anniversary. But in doing so, they're putting a face to the LGBT community in parts of the world that may not see us—or want to. (The press in Muslim-dominant Turkey will likely have to run Destenay's picture if they want to cover First Lady Emine Erdoğan's attendance.)

Not incidentally, Bettel and Destenay present a better example of diplomacy and civility than the Trumps, who seem preoccupied with hand-slapping and shoving heads of state.