Leo Varadkar’s sexual orientation has been raised with me by a diverse range of people in conversations in recent years.
He is one of the small band of political celebrities that we have in this country. He is a subject of fascination for those of all political persuasions and none. It has something to do with that fact he has had so much political success so young, and his refreshing bluntness.
His name often comes up in political conversations and especially with people who don’t usually talk very much about politics.
People often ask: “What is he really like?” I tell them that I’ve met him only occasionally, that he’s affable and he seems able.
The next question people generally ask is whether he will lead Fine Gael, and I offer the view that he probably will.
More often than not of late, however, a few questions in, people have asked awkwardly: “By the way, is he gay?”
I’ve replied honestly “I don’t know; he may be.”
Some will feel that it is peculiar in this day and age, although not peculiarly Irish, to wonder whether a politician is gay.
However, at least in the way I have been asked the question about Varadkar, it seems to me to be more a curiosity for people rather than something which defines their view of him.
Many who have taken the trouble to follow Varadkar’s political career, even fleetingly, told me they have had a sense that there was something about Leo that he hadn’t shared completely with the public – until now.
It is clear that Varadkar himself was conscious that this issue was out there. It must have been discomforting for him to sense that such a deeply personal matter was the subject of speculation. He implied to Miriam O’Callaghan on Sunday that he had been giving thought for a while to how he was going to address it.
The political and media focus on Varadkar was intensifying, He was increasingly being written up as a future taoiseach. He is chairing Fine Gael’s communications committee for the next election. He has moved to a ministry in the social policy area. He would be expected to play a prominent role in the campaign for the marriage equality referendum.
In a more equal world a Minister should not have to talk about such personal matters but Varadkar was shrewd enough to recognise the realities. If he was to have any control over how this story became public he was going to have to get out in front of it.
Health issues
If he asked anybody for advice about how to do that they would have told him to do it in precisely the manner he did.
Pick a moment when health issues were relatively quiet. Do it in the context of a wider interview focusing on the personal rather than the political.
He could have chosen to do it on one of the television chats shows but radio is a more comfortable forum for talking about such intimate matters. Once he decided to do it on radio then Miriam O’Callaghan’s Sunday programme was an obvious choice.
He did the interview without prepublicity or any post-interview media follow up, and it invited a massive public response, which was overwhelmingly supportive.
Some in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community have expressed frustration since Sunday that Varadkar’s public coming out became such a massive news story.
The scale of the coverage was inevitable however.The Varadkar interview led Sunday’s news bulletins and was a front-page story on almost all of Monday’s newspapers not because it’s an issue but because it’s a novelty.
Media reaction follows a similar pattern all over the world. Last May a former Peruvian minister Carlos Bruce made front page news when he announced he was gay. Last August, when the new leader of the Danish Conservative Party, Soren Pape Poulsen, came out it was big news.
Newsworthy
It is hardly surprising, therefore, that for one day at least Varadkar’s announcement would be newsworthy. The Irish have come a long way in a short time in our attitude towards homosexuality. The scale of this shift in attitude was reflected in the warmth of the response to Varadkar’s interview.
It is worth remembering, however, that homosexuality was only decriminalised 22 years ago. The older half of the Irish electorate grew up in an era when there were very few openly gay celebrities and when David Norris was the only openly gay man in the political village. Now there are several openly gay parliamentarians and Varadkar has just become the first openly gay Minister.
He can move on now. Having done the interview, his sexual orientation, never really an issue, will now not even be a curiosity. He can get back to his two difficult tasks of reforming the health services and trying to save Fine Gael seats at the next general election.