{"id":13181,"date":"2015-01-18T12:00:47","date_gmt":"2015-01-18T17:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/irelands-health-minister-leo-varadkar-comes-out-i-am-a-gay-man\/"},"modified":"2015-01-18T12:00:47","modified_gmt":"2015-01-18T17:00:47","slug":"irelands-health-minister-leo-varadkar-comes-out-i-am-a-gay-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/irelands-health-minister-leo-varadkar-comes-out-i-am-a-gay-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland's Health Minister Leo Varadkar Comes Out: 'I Am a Gay Man'"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland's Health Minister Leo Varadkar Comes Out: 'I Am a Gay Man'<\/b><\/p>\n

\n

\"Varadkar\"<\/a>
(screenshot<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Ireland’s Health Minister Leo Varadkar has come out of the closet this morning, becoming the first openly gay<\/a> minister in the country’s history.<\/p>\n

The Irish Times<\/em> reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“I am a gay<\/a> man<\/a>, 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 1.<\/p>\n

“It’s not something that defines me,”he said. “I’m not a half-Indian politician, or a doctor politician or a gay<\/a> 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”.<\/p>\n

Varadkar says he decided to begin speaking publicly about his sexuality because of the upcoming political debates surrounding LGBT issues: the marriage equality referendum and the debate over blood donations from gay<\/a> and bisexual<\/a> men<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Listen to Varadkar’s “coming out” interview, AFTER THE JUMP<\/a>…<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"
\nKyler Geoffroy<\/p>\n

www.towleroad.com\/2015\/01\/irelands-health-minister-leo-varadkar-comes-out-i-am-a-gay-man.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ireland's Health Minister Leo Varadkar Comes Out: 'I Am a Gay Man' (screenshot) Ireland’s Health Minister Leo Varadkar has come out of the closet this morning, becoming the first openly gay<\/a> minister in the country’s history. The Irish Times reports: “I am a gay<\/a> man<\/a>, it’s not a secret, but not something that everyone would … Continue reading Ireland's Health Minister Leo Varadkar Comes Out: 'I Am a Gay Man'<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nIreland's Health Minister Leo Varadkar Comes Out: 'I Am a Gay Man' - GAYFRIENDSCHAT.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/irelands-health-minister-leo-varadkar-comes-out-i-am-a-gay-man\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ireland's Health Minister Leo Varadkar Comes Out: 'I Am a Gay Man' - GAYFRIENDSCHAT.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ireland's Health Minister Leo Varadkar Comes Out: 'I Am a Gay Man' (screenshot) Ireland’s Health Minister Leo Varadkar has come out of the closet this morning, becoming the first openly gay minister in the country’s history. 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