Gay activist with Jewish roots to head Arab World Institute

The French government has appointed Jack Lang, a campaigner for gay rights whose Jewish father is a Holocaust survivor, to head the Arab World Institute. Lang, 73, of the Socialist Party, was named last Friday as president of the prestigious cultural institution, which France runs jointly with 22 Arab countries. He served a decade as the culture minister in France starting in 1981. The institute, which is dedicated to promoting and exchanging information and cultural values of the Arab world, was founded in 1980 by the French government and 18 Arab countries, many of which regard homosexuality as a crime. Lang, 73, was born to a Catholic mother and a Jewish father who survived World War II in hiding, according to French genealogist Alain Garric. Lang also is mentioned as Jewish in The Jewish Year of 1997. Lang has a Jewish wife, Monique Buczynski, according to Garric.