Meet Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s first gay prime minister

Ireland is set to make history by electing first ever homosexual prime minister and the country’s first of Asian immigrant descent.

Leo Varadkar, 38, is leading the race to become the front leader of Ireland’s Fine Gael party and the country’s head in elections on June 2.

Varadkar, a doctor by profession, is currently serving as the minister for social protection. Varadkar aims to represent hardworking Irish people “who get up early in the morning” and have succeeded to gather popular support.

Varadkar’s parents moved to Dublin from Mumbai, India. His father, who is also a doctor, married to a nurse and farmer’s daughter from the southern Irish county of Waterford, while working in England in the 1970s.

According to The Independent, Varadkar gave an interview to the state broadcaster in 2015, when for the first time he openly said that he was gay and stressed that his personal life or family background does not define him –it is part of his being.

“It’s not something that defines me. I’m not a half-Indian politician, or a doctor politician or a gay 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”, Varadkar stated.

His opponent Simon Coveney is also popular among masses but analysts say Varadkar has the high potential to win support from other parties – 65 percent of the Fine Gael lawmakers have publicly declared their support for the latter.

Varadkar’s rise as the strong political figure suggests that a once highly conservative catholic country has come a long way. Ireland was also the first country to legalize gay marriages in 2015 with overwhelming support from every corner of the country.

“I honestly don’t think in 1981 when I first got elected that I could foresee a time when an openly gay man might become Taoiseach (prime minister),” former Fine Gael deputy leader Nora Owen, who served as justice minister in the 1990s, told Reuters.

“We have come a long way and the fact that someone like Leo Varadkar, who is an openly gay man, living with his partner, can actually put himself forward for Taoiseach and nobody is batting an eyelid is wonderful and I think it’s a great day for Ireland that we can do that.”

Varadkar’s supporters compare him with Justin Trudeau and newly elected French president Emmanuel Macron – both are young, strong-headed and progressive – believing that he could change Ireland’s political future.