Ireland's Openly-Gay Prime Minister to Meet With Mike Pence and Press Him on LGBT Rights

[DonViejo]

Source: The New Civil Rights Movement




by David Badash
March 12, 2018 11:23 AM

Says US Not a World Leader in LGBT Rights Under Trump

The Prime Minister of Ireland – his official title is "Taoiseach" – will sit down with Mike Pence at the Vice President's home in the Naval Observatory on Friday morning. Leo Varadkar, Ireland's first openly-gay head of state, says he will challenge Pence on LGBT civil rights in America, The Irish Times reports.

“We’ve always seen America as a beacon of freedom. This is the land of the free, the home of the brave, this is where the gay rights movement began,” Varadkar said at the popular SXSW festival and conference this past weekend. “It’s really tough to see a country built on freedom, build on individual freedom, not being a world leader in that space anymore. I think the majority of American people would agree with what I have to say, even if the administration doesn’t.”

The Vice President is virulently anti-gay, and recently engaged in a social media battle with U.S. Olympic skater Adam Rippon. During a congressional campaign Pence supported funding for "reparative therapy," a harmful practice thart claims to turn gay people straight. Courts have ruled it fraud and some LGBT people have labeled it torture.

In addition to meeting with Pence, Taoiseach Varadkar will reportedly meet with President Trump on Thursday. He is also slated this week to visit New York City's Stonewall Inn, now a U.S. National Monument and considered by many where America's LGBT civil rights movement began.

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Read more: http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/ireland_s_openly_gay_prime_minister_to_meet_with_mike_pence_and_press_him_on_lgbt_rights

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Will Pence insist they have a "chaperone?"

[njhoneybadger]

2. Mother has given her permission

[TygrBright]

3. Betcha he's already got the hazmat/fumigation team scheduled for post-meeting cleanup. n/t

[janx]

4. Go for it, Leo!

[SpankMe]

5. My hopes aren't high. Varadkar is a conservative by every other measure

I'm on board with any lecture Pence can get on LGBT dignity and rights. But, I'd rather it come from someone with more rounded progressive bona-fides. Varadkar is center right - progressive on most social issues, but he's anti-abortion and pro-business to a degree that would make an American Republican blush. It's said that his abortion stance is "evolving". But that just sounds like politics to me.

[Lucky Luciano]

6. The Irish PM should greet Pence with a two sided European kiss!

Not particularly Irish, but would love to see pence turn red!

[riversedge]

7. oh mygod!! that would be hilarious!

[FakeNoose]

8. Oooooh, this ought to be good!

Watch Pence wear gloves when he shakes his hand.