Leo Varadkar: ‘I am a gay man’, Minister says

TD did not want people to think he had a ‘hidden agenda’ on marriage equality referendum

The Irish Times, Jan 18, 2015

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar pictured in RTE Radio 1 studios today where
he came out publicly on the Miriam O’ Callaghan show. Photograph: Aidan Crawley

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has come out publicly this morning, saying he is a “gay man”.

“I am a gay man, it’s not a secret, but not something that everyone would necessarily know but isn’t something I’ve spoken publicly about before,” he told Miriam O’Callaghan on RTÉ Radio.

“It’s not something that defines me,”he said. “I’m not a half-Indian politician, or a doctor politician or a gay politician for that matter. It’s just part of who I am, it doesn’t define me, it is part of my character I suppose”.

Across the course of a wide-ranging interview, in which the Dublin West TD discussed his Indian heritage, struggling with an introverted nature and an ambition to leave politics after another 15 years, Mr Varadkar said he wanted to make clear there were no hidden agendas on his behalf going into the same-sex marriage referendum set for May this year.

“There’s a referendum on marriage equality coming up too, and I just want to be honest with people. I was thinking about the arguments that I might make, and all the arguments that I was going to make were kind of detached” he said, speaking on his 36th birthday.

“What I really want to say is that I’d like the referendum to pass because I’d like to be an equal citizen in my own country, the country in which I happen to be a member of Government, and at the moment I’m not,” he added.

Despite the ongoing overcrowding crisis in hospital emergency departments throughout the country, the Minister sought to make clear that he didn’t time the announcement to deflect publicity away from political issues affecting the Government, and that he wanted to clarify his personal position ahead of some upcoming decisions to be taken by the Government.

“There are political and policy reasons too. I am now the Minister for Health, there are decisions coming up that are not entirely my own but I will be involved in them,” said Mr Varadkar, referring to surrogacy legislation and the debate over blood donations from gay and bisexual men.

“What I want people to know is that whatever decisions are made on any issue, I’ll make them according to what I believe is in the public interest and of my own conscience, I won’t be allowing my own background or my own sexual orientation to dictate the decisions that I make.”

Mr Varadkar said he also decided to come out for “personal reasons” because he was comfortable to talk about his sexuality now but “wasn’t always”. “It’s not a big deal for me anymore, I hope it’s not a big deal for anyone else, it shouldn’t be,” he said.

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