Carl Austin-Behan


Carl Jason Austin-Behan 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.
He served in the RAF from April 1991 until October 1997 and in 2001, aged 29, he won Mr Gay UK.

Early life and education

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

Career

He was discharged from the Royal Air Force in 1997 for being gay at a time when it was illegal to be openly gay in the RAF.
He was elected to Manchester City Council as Labour Member for Burnage ward in May 2011. In 2016 he was made Lord Mayor of Manchester, and his term ended in May 2017. He was Manchester's first openly gay Lord Mayor and one of its youngest at 44. 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.
In August 2018, he was appointed LGBT advisor to Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham.

Awards and honours

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