Maria: Leo and partner’s Pence visit made waves
FINE Gael European election candidate Maria Walsh has hailed the Taoiseach for making ‘waves’ with his remarks on his own sexuality to US vice president Mike Pence.
Ms Walsh, 31, who became the first openly gay winner of the Rose of Tralee five years ago, said Leo Varadkar had put sexuality ‘at the forefront of conversation again’ in the US. Mr Pence is a hardline conservative who has attracted controversy in the past in relation to LGBTQ issues.
Last week during his St Patrick’s Day visit to the US, Mr Varadkar was accompanied by his longterm boyfriend, Dr Matthew Barrett, for breakfast in the Pence family residence.
The Taoiseach told the US vice president that we are ‘all God’s children’, and said he was judged on his own ‘political actions and mistakes, and not on my sexual orientation or my skin tone or my gender or my religious beliefs’.
Ms Walsh said she was ‘unbelievably proud’ of Mr Varadkar.
She told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘It was unbelievable to see the leader of our country step into a room that is not necessarily welcoming of who he is and what he believes in – that is unbelievable that him and his partner just took ownership and led.’
Mr Varadkar’s remarks and the visit to the Pence family home by the same-sex couple were widely praised around the world, and even attracted the attention of US talk show host Ellen DeGeneres online.