Ireland's Conservative Ruling Party Elects Country's First Openly Gay Leader

Ireland’s Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar, the son of an Indian immigrant, is set to be the first openly gay prime minister, or Taoiseach, after the ruling Fine Gael party elected him leader on June 2.Varadkar, 38, won 60 percent of the overall vote, beating opponent Simon Coveney. He will replace party leader and current Taoiseach Enda Kenny. In his acceptance speech, Varadkar said “prejudice has no hold” in Ireland. Varadkar came out as gay in 2015, just a few months before Ireland voted in favor of same-sex marriage. He will be the fourth openly-gay world leader, following Iceland, Luxembourg and Belgium.While Fine Gael has touted the election of Varadkar as progressive, the party is known for its center-right policies. Widespread campaigning by pro-abortion rights groups preceded the Fine Gael leadership contest. Following Varadkar’s win, the Abortion Rights Campaign issued a statement calling on Varadkar to hold a referendum on Ireland’s abortion laws. Varadkar was also reported to have said he would call a referendum on restrictive abortion “sometime next year.”Previously, Varadkar has said that while he believes equating the right to life of an unborn child to that of the mother was “too restrictive,” he only supported abortion in the cases of fatal fetal abnormalities and where there was a risk the life of the mother.