Irish PM Leo Varadkar is gay, nservative — and of Indian orig | The Indian Exprs

Contents:

• LEO VARADKAR: GAY, HALF-INDIAN, NSERVATIVE – AND FAVOURE TO BE IRELAND’S NEXT LEAR
• GAY SON OF INDIAN IMMIGRANT LIKELY TO BE IRELAND’S NEXT LEAR
• 7 THGS TO KNOW ABOUT LEO VARADKAR, IRELAND’S NEXT PM, WHO IS HALF INDIAN & OPENLY GAY
• LEO VARADKAR, THE INDIAN-ORIG GAY MAN POISED TO BE IRELAND’S PMIF ELECTED, LEO VARADKAR WOULD ALSO BEE THE YOUNGT IRISH PRIME MISTER SO FAR. RTERSUPDATED: 04 JUN 2017, 8:31 PM ISTWORLD4 M READSHARE ON THE QUT DAILY
• LEO VARADKAR, GAY SON OF INDIAN IMMIGRANT, TO BE NEXT IRISH PM
• LEO VARADKAR TO BEE IRELAND’S FIRST OPENLY GAY PRIME MISTER AND YOUNGT EVER LEAR AFTER LG FE GAEL PARTY SELECTS HIM TO BE TAOISEACH
• IRELAND'S FIRST GAY PRIME MISTER LEO VARADKAR FORMALLY ELECTED
• IRISH PM LEO VARADKAR IS GAY, NSERVATIVE — AND OF INDIAN ORIG
• WHO IS LEO VARADKAR? THE INDIAN-ORIG, OPENLY GAY LEAR BACK AS IRELAND PM
• ‘WHEN YOU ARE A PERSON OF LOUR IRELAND PEOPLE DON’T SEE YOU AS GAY’
• DUBL DEVILS LEVEL THE PLAYG FIELD FOR GAY MEN
• LIFE OF A GAY MIGRANT: RACISM EXISTS THE LGBT MUNY TOO

LEO VARADKAR: GAY, HALF-INDIAN, NSERVATIVE – AND FAVOURE TO BE IRELAND’S NEXT LEAR

Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s mister for social protectn, is the strong favoure to replace Enda Kenny as Taoiseach of 38-year-old, who me out as gay durg the same-sex marriage referendum mpaign Ireland 2015, has dropped to 2/5 wh Paddy Power to bee the next lear of Fe Gael, which leads a mory he were to w, would mark a tone for the historilly very nservative untry. 25 ln mory ethnic to lead IrelandMr Varadkar, whose father is Indian, would be the first mory ethnic Taoiseach of Ireland as well as the first gay man to hold the would be the fourth openly gay prime mister the world after Belgium’s El Di Rupo, Iceland’s Johanna Sigurdardottir and Luxembourg’s Xavier Mister Leo Varadkar livers heartfelt speech llg for same-sex marriageThe polician me out a rad terview 2015 before the untry voted to make same-sex marriage said: “It’s not somethg that f me. I’m not a half-Indian polician, or a doctor polician or a gay polician for that matter.

Senator David Norris, 73, the first Irish polician to publicly e out as gay told CNN that he unrstands why Varadkar wants to foc on polici and not his personal life. Now to be able to have a young, able, good-lookg gay man as prime mister of the untry, says to young people, ‘you n be anythg you want, your sexualy don’t matter, ’” he said. If elected, Varadkar would be one of two openly gay heads of state currently office – Luxembourg’s prime mister Xavier Bettel beg the other.

GAY SON OF INDIAN IMMIGRANT LIKELY TO BE IRELAND’S NEXT LEAR

Varadkar will be the first openly gay man to hold the post, and his appotment will be nfirmed at the end of the month, when the Irish parliament returns om a break. Bis beg an openly gay lear of a major polil party, and a soon-to-be Prime Mister, Varadkar stands out some other ways as well.

Here are seven thgs about Leo Varadkar that you should know before he tak office: He is openly gay and me out on January 18, 2015, on his 36th birthday. Ireland legalized gay marriage 2015, and Varadkar me out a few months after that on a rad show.

7 THGS TO KNOW ABOUT LEO VARADKAR, IRELAND’S NEXT PM, WHO IS HALF INDIAN & OPENLY GAY

I’m not a half-Indian polician, or a doctor polician, or a gay polician, for that matter. Ireland is on the verge of a huge generatnal change s polil life wh the likely electn of Leo Varadkar as s next premier – a move that would give the once-stnchly Catholic untry s first openly gay lear, and also s first lear of an Asian immigrant scent. I hontly don’t thk 1981, when I first got elected, that I uld foree a time when an openly gay man might bee Taoiseach (prime mister)Nora Owen, former Fe Gael puty lear and former jtice mister“We have e a long way and the fact that someone like Leo Varadkar, who is an openly gay man, livg wh his partner, n actually put himself forward for Taoiseach and nobody is battg an eyelid is wonrful and I thk 's a great day for Ireland that we n do that.

Havg only crimalized homosexualy 1993 and troduced divorce two years later, Ireland beme the first untry to adopt gay marriage via a popular vote 2015, drawg overwhelmg support om every rner of the vote marked a further ebbg of the church's domance Irish society, which has been nsistently shattered over the past two s by the unverg of sndals of sex abe by prits and celty at Catholic-n electn would also show another face of morn-day Ireland. Varadkar himself has played down the signifince of his background and personal a 2015 terview wh state broadster RTE, Varadkar publicly said for the first time that he was gay.

’ The send was, ‘and a son of an immigrant’ and was only then that someone said, ‘and gay as well. The son of an Indian immigrant who me out as gay 2015 will be the next Irish prime mister, after he was voted lear of the untry’s ma erng Varadkar’s victory the Fe Gael learship ntt on Friday, which took place after outgog PM Enda Kenny announced his rignatn last month, marks another signifint step forward for equaly the untry, after 2015’s gay marriage well as beg Ireland’s first gay prime mister, Varadkar, 38, will also bee the untry’s youngt lear, and the first om an ethnic mory background.

LEO VARADKAR, THE INDIAN-ORIG GAY MAN POISED TO BE IRELAND’S PMIF ELECTED, LEO VARADKAR WOULD ALSO BEE THE YOUNGT IRISH PRIME MISTER SO FAR. RTERSUPDATED: 04 JUN 2017, 8:31 PM ISTWORLD4 M READSHARE ON THE QUT DAILY

Although Varadkar’s centre-right polics are clearly nservative, he portrays the image of a new, progrsive Ireland, symbolised bt May 2015 when the Republic voted overwhelmgly favour of gay marriage.

“I thk ’s really signifint that both his party and the media Ireland foced on his polici, rather than him simply beg a gay man who wants to lead the untry, ” said Brian Fnegan, the edor of Gay Communy News Dubl.

“It is a sign of how much Ireland has changed and moved on that no one really r if he is gay here. Irish policians were among the last sectors of our society to e out of the closet but now at least we’ve got one gay man and a lbian, Cathere Zappone, both the bet.

LEO VARADKAR, GAY SON OF INDIAN IMMIGRANT, TO BE NEXT IRISH PM

VARAD TO SERVE Leo Varadkar to bee Ireland’s first openly gay Prime Mister and youngt ever lear after lg Fe Gael party selects him to be TaoiseachDubl polician born to an Indian father will take up office on June 13Published: 18:43, 2 Jun 2017Updated: 2:22, 3 Jun 2017IRELAND will have s first openly gay Prime Mister after half-Indian Fe Gael polician Leo Varadkar was elected as the lg party's new lear today.

LEO VARADKAR TO BEE IRELAND’S FIRST OPENLY GAY PRIME MISTER AND YOUNGT EVER LEAR AFTER LG FE GAEL PARTY SELECTS HIM TO BE TAOISEACH

His victory — which me spe losg the popular vote by 30 per cent — is beg viewed as a sign of huge social chang a untry where homosexualy was a crimal offence until 1993. 5 Varadkar will be the first openly gay Prime Mister when he tak officeCred: PA:Prs Associatn. In a rad terview January 2015, on his 36th birthday, he revealed he was gay and was a proment supporter of the Y mpaign the same-sex marriage referendum the followg May.

IRELAND'S FIRST GAY PRIME MISTER LEO VARADKAR FORMALLY ELECTED

"It's not somethg that f me: I'm not a half-Indian polician, or a doctor polician or a gay polician for that matter, " he said, addg that he jt wanted to be "hont wh people".

IRISH PM LEO VARADKAR IS GAY, NSERVATIVE — AND OF INDIAN ORIG

The son of an Indian immigrant has ma Irish history by beg the untry’s youngt and first openly gay prime Varadkar, 38, was formally elected taoiseach at a nfirmatn ceremony the Dáil Dubl after he won the Fe Gael party learship earlier this month. Openly gay mister of Indian orig uld bee the next PM of Ireland, acrdg to the Hdtan Tim. 9, Jamion for The New York TimDUBLIN — It was a te Irish honeymoon — short and Irish did not waste any time baskg the wonr of the world, that this small untry had leapt to morny wh s first openly gay and half-Indian prime mister, at 38 the youngt taoiseach history.

That he attend the Montreal gay pri para wh his partner, Matthew Barrett, a handsome Irish rdlogist, and the termally cute Jt T sportg tight whe jeans. But as Ireland looks toward Europe, s young lear is also wary of cultural homogenizatn, makg a pot of gog back to school to perfect his Irish language how his Indian si affected his outlook, Varadkar replied, “I was always aware that there was a whole bigger world out there bee as some kid growg up Dubl the early ’80s, I’d have been the only person of lor my class and my dad would’ve been the only person of lor on the street. ”Did the pedophile sndal the Catholic Church, once so all-powerful Ireland, allow a more liberal attu to velop about gay marriage?

”The prime mister’s progrsive policy on gay marriage do not mean he’s liberal on every issue. “He is liberal enough to mpaign for gay marriage but nservative enough to tackle alleged welfare cheaters, a mpaign that posned him as hard right the ey of many crics, ” said Niall O’Dowd, the founr of, the largt Irish diaspora webse.

WHO IS LEO VARADKAR? THE INDIAN-ORIG, OPENLY GAY LEAR BACK AS IRELAND PM

Leo Varadkar uld not have been an openly gay polician India, leave alone prime Irish have elected a new Taoiseach, or Prime Mister, whose name is Leo Varadkar and whose father was an Indian immigrant. A parliamentary vote on June 14 nfirmed the 38-year-old, Ireland’s youngt PM and first openly gay lear.

His homosexualy did not dampen the enthiasm to claim him as one of our own. Leo Varadkar uld not have been an openly gay polician India, leave alone prime mister.

If we, as a natn, slap ourselv on our backs on the achievements of our gay immigrants, while crimalizg those back home, that hypocrisy needs to be talked about.

‘WHEN YOU ARE A PERSON OF LOUR IRELAND PEOPLE DON’T SEE YOU AS GAY’

And the ease wh which the Indian media the phrase, “openly gay, ” needs to be talked about as well. Tth is, we nnot celebrate Varadkar’s polil succs whout also notg, the evable same breath, that he is Ireland’s first gay mister. The symbolic importance of this nnot be over-emphasised a untry where homosexuals and lbians have been ridiculed, bullied and killed for their sexual preferenc.

DUBL DEVILS LEVEL THE PLAYG FIELD FOR GAY MEN

A search for “openly gay Indian policians’ leads to – y, you gused , to Leo Varadkar. Priyam, a 28 year old gay person I spoke to, poted out that “majorarianism is creasgly fg standards for moraly India.

Varadkar, himself, had this to say about his sexual orientatn, when he first me out as gay 2015: “It’s not somethg that f me.

Robbie Lawlor, a Dubl based activist and former Mr Gay Ireland, workg on HIV awarens, put his fger on the button when he said, “All that symbolism is great, but wh great shame as his polil views are very nservative. Varadkar’s stat as the son of an Indian immigrant should be far ls important – to India and the world – than the fact that he is agast women’s reproductive rights, has monstrated a track rerd of beg anti-workg class and even has rervatns agast gay people adoptg children. Still, Varadkar’s ascensn to the top job polics is as much a vote favour of Ireland’s liberal crentials, which crimalized homosexualy 1993 and legalised same sex marriage 2015.

LIFE OF A GAY MIGRANT: RACISM EXISTS THE LGBT MUNY TOO

Even if all hell fally breaks loose and Kaliyug shows s te lours, the possibily of an openly gay or lbian polician India is remote. Across the polil spectm, allegatns about sexism and homophobia rema unaddrsed. Leo Varadkar, an openly gay Indian-orig polician, beme the Prime Mister of Ireland on Saturday.