Ah here.

Gay Community News tweetz:

An Taoiseach, @LeoVaradkar is the latest addition to our #PrideMonth celebration of #queer #Irish people. Becoming, at 38, the youngest person ever to hold the office, he is Ireland’s first, and one of the few openly gay heads of government in modern times. #RainbowIcons

With regard to Leo Varadkar’s inclusion in our #RainbowIcons list. We worked on the list collaboratively to portray a diverse and representative array of notable LGBT figures in Ireland. Leo Varadkar made the list solely due to his being the first ever openly LGBT Taoiseach.

Some responses to the announcement…

On January 27, 2009, Mr Varadkar, during a second stage debate in the Dáil on the Civil Partnership Bill 2009, said:

Every child has the right to a mother and father and, as much as is possible, the State should vindicate that right. That is a much more important right than that of two men or women having a family.

That is the principle that should underline our laws regarding children and adoption.

I am also uncomfortable about adoption by single people regardless of their sexual orientation.

I do not believe I as a single man should adopt a child. The child should go to parents, a mother and father, to replace what the child had before.

Gay Community News

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49 thoughts on “Yes He Icon

  1. Increasing Displacement

    Been saying this to his cronies for years.
    Which they deny despite it being a fact.

  2. Rob_G

    Oh fupp off Keith, Electroboy, and you too, Bodger.

    People’s views change and evolve over time. Judging him by public pronouncements he made 10 years ago while still in the closet seems like a cheap shot – jeez, I can’t imagine why a closeted gay man having difficulty coming to terms with his sexuality might feel the need to take unwoke positions on gay issues, FFS…

    1. Termagant

      No YOU fupp off

      The man’s a langer, he’s proven this time and time again, celebrating him just for the fact that he’s gay demeans the whole movement.

    2. Increasing Displacement

      That comment really proves what a shill you are Rob
      As mentioned it was 2009…
      Maybe in 10 years you’ll look back on your comments and know what a w….. you are

    3. Vanessa the Holy Face of Frilly Keane

      Give over Rob
      If there was to be anything reasonable under what your saying there
      Leo would’ve just said nathin’ back then
      That caption from Oireachtas Debate archives demonstrates
      Absolutely and beyond doubt
      That he’ll say and do anything that serves his own ambition
      He’s an empty shurt that’ll take whatevers going and ride any wave that the current climate brings
      e.g. @campaignforleo

      And this constant introduction that he’s Ireland’s Gay Taoiseach is a perfect example
      His preferences and sex life can only cover up so much and for a set amount of time
      Like cosmetic surgery attempting to conceal that he’s an absolute effin’ mess and shambles of a Leader

      He’s an opportunistic narcissistic manipulative twat
      Who’s far far too big for his boots

      He has no genuine convictions
      For anything
      Socially or Politically
      He couldn’t give a púc about any of his auto membership communities
      He is only about himself – his own Self-Interest
      His Special Comms Unit was about him
      And he’s struggled since without them
      His day starts and ends about him
      Not his Party Not this Government Not this County
      Not Healthcare, Not Housing, Not Equality
      Him Leo

      That all being said
      The GCN pic there is a perfect image of him
      While he has been flustery pinkish about the face lately
      It captures the substance of his character magnificently, and without doubts

      In fact the OPW should acquire it for Leinster House

      1. Rob_G

        All of this indicates that you just don’t like him as a person (which is of course your prerogative).

        In your years in commenting on Broadsheet, have you ever expressed any opinions publicly, that you later revised and disagreed with with the benefit of hindsight?

        1. AOShea

          People can and do change their mind or make mistakes. That’s life.

          What Leo did here was lie to his true self and to toe the party line.

          That’s a true sign of his ‘character’.

        2. Vanessa the Holy Face of Frilly Keane

          Firstly Rob
          I’ve no interest in Leo as a person.
          I don’t want to be friends with him. I’ve enough friends. Nor am I related to him or do I have’ta work with him.

          However I am very interested in Leo as Taoiseach, Leo as Leader, Leo as (former) Minister for Health, Leo as (again former) Minister for Social Welfare.
          And I have every right to question his abilities, credentials and performance. Anytime I want.

          On your latter question.
          Yes in fact I have, and I don’t need to be asked to put my hand out to be slapped when I get it wrong.
          Backing Hillary Clinton being, IMO, my most egregious, gaudiest and regrettable.
          Yet I haven’t asked for those columns to be taken down. I stand over everything I write, so why would I stop just to hide my previous support for a former Presidential wannabe who I wouldn’t admit was a corrupt weaseling destructive lying fake.

          I could blame ignorance or that I was taken in; but that would demonstrate a drastic failure to complete my own due diligence when I should have, and before I had Broadsheet publish them. Despite being told I was wrong, I bulldozed on.

          So I’ll put myself back into the stocks here again; just for you since you obviously missed it before.

          I let my bias as a woman working in the professions, and all those glass ceiling headaches, and all that you-know-yourself built up over the two plus decades influence me. In particular my constant harping “only playing by the same rules as the lads.” I’m especially ashamed of that.
          And as a strong advocate for Equality, Professional Independence and being Free from Conflicts – I did wrong my own practice standards.

          The benefit of hindsight is no excuse for ignoring facts that were available to me at the time.

          The same can be said of my standing by a particular odious meme of a man known to all here in Broadsheet. When I became a victim to his hateful, misinformed abusive mania, I openly accepted and invited all the sniggery and some spitful I told ya so’s from the regulars here.

          On a side note. With the exception of a handful of specific to doxxing posts that started to appear here last summer; I have Never asked Broadsheet to remove a comment nor have I ever reported a single comment.

          I don’t hide
          Or go crying to teacher
          Nor do I need to dox, skulk or stalk
          Or round up bots and trolls to do my talking for me
          Or ring an antagonist’s employer or threaten their livelihood
          Maybe you’ve me mixed up with someone else Rob

          Have a good one
          V

          1. Str8bath

            Very one-sided comment

            By definition every single one of the “faults” you ascribe to Taoiseach Varadkar appear to be in full display in this comment of yours
            – arrogance
            – condescension
            – narcissism
            – “it’s all about me”
            – trying to control the message

            Above all there seems in common with our leader a trait that can only be described as self- important delusion. We say that when we see Leo looking at stuff on twitter – but we see it here as well with you.

      2. Str8bath

        Very one-dimensional comment

        Have you ever considered that he’s just very good at politics? By definition that means acting in the ways you describe as faults

    4. Chris

      Absolutely agree- they need to get off their high horses. I’m no fan of Fine Gael but to attack a person for their public statements made 10 years ago when they were struggling with their own sexuality while in the public eye need to grow the hell up and remember what it was like to grow up gay in the 80s and 90s. Leo has done far more for gay visibility and acceptance that keyboard warriors and twitterers ever will.

      1. Termagant

        “Leo has done far more for gay visibility and acceptance”
        Such as? Existing whilst gay doesn’t count as doing something.

        1. Rob_G

          The speech he made when he went to meet Mike Pence with his partner was quite moving. No-one would have even dared to dream 20 years’ ago that an Irish politician and his same-sex partner would be going to visit the White House.

          1. SOQ

            It is a book for historians on the impact of a gay man becoming An Taoiseach has had. It has changed the lives of a whole swathe of people, especially gays.He is on that list because of this fact and rightly so.

            This ‘I don’t mind so nobody minds’ attitude of some, even on here, is arrogant and downright dismissive- some bloody well do mind and most gay people have the scars to prove it.

          2. Barry the Hatchet

            “It has changed the lives of a whole swathe of people, especially gays.”

            Yeah hi. A gay here. Leo has changed nothing for me. The marriage referendum and all the people who fought to make it happen did that.

          3. Str8bath

            + 1

            He could have just gone down there and tugged his forelock or did a jig to the delighted assembly

            Instead he CHOSE to skillfully make a point diplomatically as well about how backward thinking in the US needs a change

            Not a supporter at all but boy was I proud of him and my country for electing him that day

            Bloghards who lurk in cyberspace and never do anything hard for real people wouldn’t have a notion how difficult it is to pull stuff like that off

    5. Nilbert

      ‘unwoke’…mother of God…
      He was entirely aware of the circumstances of the time, and the implications of the position he took in the Dail.
      He was a sitting TD, not some adolescent in the 6th form debating society.
      He was ‘woke’ to the issues, and he was a complete hypocrite. He did what was politically expedient.

      This was 10 years ago… not the 1950’s.

  3. SOQ

    Keith Browne-Byrne – He didnt come out until he knew it was safe and not once did he do anything for the LGBTQ community in Ireland.

    Wrong. He came out at a time which could have wrecked his career because he was the first. In hindsight you could say that it was a calculated risk but, it was still a risk none the less. Even now, how many openly gay TDs are there? He then, among many others put his shoulder to the wheel of the marriage campaign.

    There are many other things Leo could be criticised for but he definitely deserves to be included in this list.

    1. Fred

      He only came out becauae one of the tabloids was about to out him
      Jeez some people have short memories

    2. Chris

      Well said! And I would add he had only in the few years before that had come to terms with his sexuality. Campaigners who criticise people in the public eye for not coming out as soon as possible are pretty horrible people in my book and shameful to the entire LGBT community.

      1. SOQ

        Absolutely shameful. Coming to terms with one’s sexuality can take a life time.

        It’s like the ‘activists’ who claim they won the referendum- they didn’t. Everyone done their bit, in their own way. A conversation was had at near every kitchen table across the country- that was where the marriage referendum was won.

    3. Barry the Hatchet

      “He came out at a time which could have wrecked his career because he was the first.”

      Bullsh*t. He wasn’t remotely the first! Remember Jerry Buttimer coming out three full years before Leo did? Remember what a great response he got? Remember Enda Kenny chilling in Panti Bar? Everyone with eyes could see the way the wind was blowing. It was safe as houses for Leo to come out in 2015.

      1. SOQ

        Well is it is so safe then where are all the other out TDs?

        A gay having the top job may not be of significance to you but I am pretty sure it is to others which is why he on that list. And likewise when it is (finally) the first woman, or will you dismiss that too?

        And credit where it due to FG because we would be waiting a very long time on FF to do likewise. Why is so hard to understand that is single issue politics?

        1. Str8bath

          +1

          We would all prefer if single issue politics could go away but are not evolved enough yet for that

  4. class wario

    I do quite like the line “Leo Varadkar made the list solely due to his being the first ever openly LGBT Taoiseach.” Emphasis on solely.

  5. Catherine costelloe

    Maybe gay Leo believes a child is better off with a mother and father. Isn’t he quite entitled to his opinion?

    1. Increasing Displacement

      Maybe he should have kept his opinion to himself like he managed to do with other things so conveniently until the time was right?

    2. Holden MaGroin

      He absolutely is. He’s also allowed to change his view. We are also allowed to have the opinion that he is wrong, or as the comments in the piece state “rode on the coattails” of other people’s hard work.

      1. Fred

        He is wrong all the time the man is a self serving idiot.
        Achievements in power? None.
        Health, education, housing, safety. All broken thanks to Vradkar.
        Meanwhile the super rich get super richer

        1. Rob_G

          What has any of what you have just said got to do it with the fact that he is Ireland’s first gay Taoiseach, and the impact that this may have had (or not)?

    3. Vanessa the Holy Face of Frilly Keane

      Catherine
      You know I have enormous respect and time for you
      But back during the Marriage Equality referendum
      And I was particularly active here in DSC
      (Highest Yes vote btw)
      There was one particular message from the No side that infuriated, offended, and insulted the likes of *me the most
      A child needs a Mother and a Father

      A child needs Parents
      Whatever means or shape or form or state they come in
      Parenting
      Is what a child needs

      And not other people’s opinions

      * a citizen who assumes equality is a human right, and a statutory right, but principally a fact of life BTW

  6. Spaghetti Hoop

    I thought we weren’t allowed to say ‘queer’?

    If you’re not in the LGBTQWZ gang it’s hard to know what and what not to say. If only we could all integrate and be a diverse yet unpartitioned society.

    1. Scundered

      Diverse but without partition, I don’t think humans are capable of that, as when left to their own devices they arrange themselves into their own tribal communities that they feel most comfortable within. But at the same time shout how we’re all the same and equal, it’s like the behaviour doesn’t match the statement of intent etc.

    2. Listrade

      Ah c’mon Spag, it isn’t that difficult. It’s starting to sound like the 90s again when the N and the F words were re-appropriated and white/straight people spat out their dummies wondering why they could say it and we can’t. It’s as simple as enough of the community has said they aren’t comfortable with being called that, so don’t. We’ve such a rich language that they had to invent a thesaurus just to catalogue the hundreds of synonyms for words and terms. Dropping one or two isn’t going to ruin our communications.

      If the black, LGBT or any other minority community wants to reclaim a term to describe themselves, it’s their call, the difference is that their use doesn’t have the same derogatory or abusive baggage as it does by people outside that community.

      1. Str8bath

        I don’t agree with this about reclaiming terms
        I see Spags point that benchmarking “otherness” is exclusionary

        But I’m not queer, gay, bi, lesbian or trans
        So why should I care what they want to call themselves?

        At the end of the day normal good manners determined how you refer to people and that is how they like to be referred to. However I wouldn’t be into forelock-tugging either mind.

        I think I’ll go with Frilly in this one

      2. bisted

        …what I regret most is all the years I used ‘brit’ as a pejorative just to realise that the intended target of my insults love the name…

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