Johan Laurent Alfons Verstreken (born 11 June 1964 in

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...

) is a Flemish politician, who has served as a member of

CD&V Christian Democratic and Flemish (, , CD&V) is a Flemish Christian-democratic political party in Belgium. The party has historical ties to both trade unionism ( ACV) and trade associations (UNIZO) and the Farmer's League. Until 2001, the party wa ...

party since 2004. He started his career back in 1989 as a TV presenter and announcer for the Flemish Broadcaster VRT. During his time on VRT, he worked with presenters such as

Luc Appermont Luc Jozef Amelie Appermont (born 4 October 1949) is a Flemish television presenter. He started his career on Radio 2 as a radio announcer, he hosted the talent show ''Observatory''. From 1976 until 1990 he was the regular Belgian commentator for ...

Dana Winner Dana Winner (born Chantal Ernestine Vanlee on 10 February 1965 in Hasselt) is a Belgian singer. Biography In 1990 she released her first single ''Op het dak van de wereld'', (Dutch: "On the roof of the world"), a cover of The Carpenters' '' To ...

Bart Peeters Bart August Maria Peeters (born 30 November 1959) is a Belgian singer, musician, television presenter and actor. Biography Early years Peeters studied Germanic philology and drama in Antwerp. There, he met Jan Leyers and Hugo Matthysen, with ...

and

Michel Follet Michel Follet (born 16 December 1959) is a Flemish radio and TV host and a film critic. Follet started his radio career for VRT as a disc jockey on Radio 2 in 1982. In 1992 Follet co-founded Radio Donna and presented the show ''Jabbedabbedoe'' ...

. He also hosted editions of the show

Blokken ''Blokken'' (''Blocks'') is a Belgian quiz show based on the video game ''Tetris''. It is broadcast by één and hosted by Belgian television personality Ben Crabbé. The show is the longest running quiz show on Belgian television, with 22 seas ...

, when

Ben Crabbé Benjamin Bert Carl (Ben) Crabbé (Tienen, 12 November 1962) is a famous Belgian quizmaster, talkshow host and musician. He became well known as drummer in Belgian rockband De Kreuners. He is quizmaster at Belgium's longest running quiz-show Blokke ...

was unavailable to host. In 2004 he resigned from his 25 years on Television and joined the

, for which he currently serves as a Member of the

Flemish Parliament The Flemish Parliament (Dutch: , formerly called Flemish Council or ''Vlaamse Raad'') constitutes the legislative power in Flanders for matters which fall within the competence of Flanders, both as a geographic region and as a cultural communi ...

. Since 2013 he is also a Community

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. He outed himself publicly as gay in his own book in 2015, his first experience was in recent years.

References

External links

Official Website

Johan Verstreken
Flemish Parliament 1964 births Politicians from Ostend Living people Flemish television presenters Christian Democratic and Flemish politicians Belgian Roman Catholics LGBT Roman Catholics Belgian gay men Belgian LGBT politicians 21st-century Belgian politicians LGBT legislators Eurovision commentators {{Flanders-politician-stub