The Importance of Being Leo Varadkar Who Twice Served as the Prime Minister of Ireland

While many worldwide are aware of the Indian roots of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, not many are aware of those of the Irish leader Leo Varadkar, who in a surprising move resigned as Prime Minister of Ireland for “personal and political reasons.”

Both Sunak and Varadkar were celebrated for their youth as well as their Indian roots by the international press when they first assumed office. The Irish Times led with the headline, “A century after Ireland gained independence and more than 70 years since India cast off the Raj, two men of Indian heritage now lead their neighboring nations.” Indeed, Indians have not forgotten the time they were derided by Winston Churchill as “a beastly people with a beastly religion.”

But I celebrate the Irish leader for reasons apart from his Indian roots. The first Irish PM or Taoiseach of part Indian descent is a huge supporter of women’s rights (yes, the F word, namely feminism!) based on his support of the repeal of the draconian law in Ireland banning abortion. This was done in 2018. 

He is also a gutsy leader, who campaigned for election as an openly gay politician in a Catholic nation, who was open about bringing his partner to public events. He steps down now, as a deeply respected politician, even if all his decisions were not always popular.

In 2017 at the age of 38, Varadkar became Ireland’s youngest Taoiseach or leader and soon became part of a new group of world male heads of government like Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who openly refer to themselves as feminists.

Varadkar was born in Dublin in January 1979 as the son of an Indian immigrant doctor from Bombay (Mumbai) who married an Irish nurse from Waterford. They settled in Ireland in the 1970s where Varadkar was raised as a Catholic. He followed in his father’s footsteps and became a physician. Interestingly, his partner, Matthew Barrett, is also a doctor.

But Varadkar came to the limelight in Ireland in politics, rather than medicine, and went on to make waves, both for his political acumen and his courage to be open about his sexuality in a deeply conservative Catholic nation. In 2015 as the then Minister of Health, he appeared on the popular Radio One RTE show Miriam Meets as a gay man. In the U.S., Time magazine would later commend his coming-out as “inspiring” and “brave.” The announcement came some four months before Irish voters approved the legalization of same-sex marriage in a national referendum. Still, it must be noted that it had been only just over two decades since homosexuality had been decriminalized in Ireland.

Varadkar’s sexual orientation became international headlines when he visited the U.S. with his partner and had a meeting with the openly homophobic Vice President Mike Pence. In their coverage, both the mainstream and LGBTQ press treated Barrett’s presence as a direct challenge to Pence’s anti-LGBTQ stance. But what interested me even more was the speech he made the very next day, openly addressing his sexuality even while confronting Pence’s position. It has a tone reminiscent of the famous speech by civil rights icon, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“I live in a country where, if I’d tried to be myself at the time, it would have ended up breaking laws. But today, that is all changed. I stand here, leader of my country, flawed and human, but judged by my political actions, and not by my sexual orientation, my skin tone, gender, or religious beliefs. And I don’t believe that my country is the only one in the world where this is possible. We are, after all, all God’s children.”

The international press presented Varadkar’s openly gay sexual identity as brave and heroic. The gay Taoiseach’s openness about his sexual identity not only became an important component of his self but also reflected upon the Republic of Ireland as a trailblazer for LGBTQ rights.

They have been less laudatory about his position on the current Middle East conflict. He has been very outspoken against Israel, referring to the country’s bombardment of Gaza as a “catastrophe” in the presence of President Biden at a St. Patrick’s Day reception at the White House. He has been openly critical of the EU having ‘double standards’ when it comes to sympathy towards Israeli and Ukrainian civilians who are victims of war. Indeed, Ireland has been one of the most vocal voices among world nations, calling for greater concern for the plight of Palestinians stuck in Gaza under intensive Israeli bombardment. He referred to the hypocrisy of the West in a blunt statement at the recent two-day summit of the European Council in Brussels. 

“The response to the appalling crisis in Palestine has not been Europe’s finest hour, quite frankly, and it has been undermining particularly on our efforts to defend Ukraine because so many countries in the Global South, also known as most of the world, interpret Europe’s actions on Ukraine as double standards, and I think they have a point, quite frankly.”

As to reactions in the diaspora, Indians worldwide have been quick to celebrate both the leaders, Varadkar in Ireland and Sunak in Britain. But what they fail to acknowledge is that even while they celebrate their fellow desis in the diaspora for having attained the highest offices in their respective nations, they continue to brazenly disenfranchise minority voices in their homeland. When can we see an openly gay politician or one from a minority faith again climb the ladder of politics to attain the position of PM in the homeland?

Unfortunately, his more recent struggles have led to his resignation as the head of his nation. In March of this year, his government’s proposals to change the Irish constitution were voted down. The first measure was to expand the government’s definition of a family to include durable relationships other than a traditional marriage. This was rejected by more than 70% of all voters. The second proposal which was intended to eliminate all language regarding the role of women in the home, was defeated by an even wider margin. Some critics went so far as to say that his decision to be “woke” cost him his political position. That said, it is indubitable that the Irish head of state with Indian roots has broken many barriers and will leave a lasting legacy for his nation.

(Top photo, Leo Varadkar/Facebook)

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Dr. Shoba Sharad Rajgopal received her Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2003. She moved to the East Coast to take up a position as the Director of the then Women’s Studies Program at Westfield State University and is currently in charge of the Women & Gender Studies Minor in the Department of Ethnic & Gender Studies, where she teaches courses that focus on gender issues and religious extremism in South Asia. She has worked with colleagues across campus and helped develop an Asian Studies Minor at the university. Dr. Rajgopal traveled widely across Asia and Europe in her previous avatar as a broadcast journalist and reported for the Indian Television networks and CNN International from various international locations.