As soon as Michel Barnier was named France’s new prime minister, critics found a skeleton in his closet. Back in 1981, the 30-year-old lawmaker joined more than 150 conservatives in the National Assembly to vote against a law decriminalizing young homosexuals. That history loomed in the background as President Emmanuel Macron appointed the 73-year-old Barnier on Thursday to take over from Gabriel Attal, France’s first openly gay prime minister. At age 35, Attal had also been the youngest of 26 prime ministers who have served modern France’s Fifth Republic. Barnier is the oldest.