The minister who spoke plainly on his birthday
A coming out on the radio, on his 36th birthday: Leo Varadkar becomes Ireland's first openly gay minister.
On 18 January 2015, Leo Varadkar was sitting in the studio of RTÉ Radio 1. It was a Sunday morning, and the Irish health minister was celebrating his thirty-sixth birthday that day. Talking to presenter Miriam O'Callaghan, he then said a sentence that quickly spread across the whole country: "I am a gay man." It had never been a secret, he added, but it was not something everyone knew either.
This made Varadkar the first openly gay cabinet member in Irish history. There were already two openly gay members of parliament from the Labour Party. But until then, no one who was open about their homosexuality had held ministerial office.
His reasons were both personal and political. For a long time his career had come first, and only recently had he come to terms with himself. There were also decisions coming up that affected him directly. In May the people were to vote on marriage equality, and questions about blood donation and surrogacy were also on his desk. Nobody should later be able to accuse him of a hidden agenda. He wanted, Varadkar said, to be an equal citizen in his own country.
The reactions were remarkably relaxed. Taoiseach Enda Kenny let it be known that this was Varadkar's private business. Words of respect came from government and opposition alike, and the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network praised his courage as a signal to young queer people.
That morning, Varadkar himself expressed a hope: the next generation of politicians should no longer have to give interviews like this. Four months later, Ireland said yes to marriage equality. And in 2017, the son of an Indian father and an Irish mother was elected Taoiseach, the country's first openly gay head of government.