Leo Varadkar Elected as Ireland’s Youngest and First Openly Gay Prime Minister

Leo Varadkar has already conquered a series of firsts as Ireland’s newest prime minister. The 38-year-old biracial son of an Indian immigrant father and Irish mother is not only the youngest Taoiseach, but also the first openly gay man elected.

The new leader of the Republic of Ireland, where homosexuality had been illegal up until just 24 years ago, was confirmed on June 14 with a parliamentary vote of 57 to 50, with 47 abstentions. However, it is not his sexual orientation or racial origins that people are intrigued by, but rather his center-right politician’s policies.

“Some people label him a Thatcherite,” The Guardian’s Henry McDonald told NPR’s Ari Shapiro. “They think he’s a kind of a son of Margaret Thatcher, the British prime minister — right of center, very pro-free market, you know, in the style of Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.”

In Varadkar’s first address to Parliament, where he received his seal of office from President Michael D. Higgins, he said, “I’ve been elected to lead, but I promise to serve.”

“The government that I lead will not be one of left or right, because those old divisions don’t comprehend the political challenges of today,” the new leader of the Fine Gael party told lawmakers Wednesday.

He discussed his desire to “build a republic of opportunity,” in which everyone has “the opportunity to succeed.”

“So the government that I lead will be one of the new European centre as we seek to build a republic of opportunity,” he said. “And that is a republic in which every citizen gets a fair go and has the opportunity to succeed and in which every part of the country has the chance to share in our prosperity.”

Enda Kenny, Varadkar’s predecessor, praised the man he had chosen as his replacement.

“As the country’s youngest holder of this office, he speaks for a new generation of Irish women and Irish men,” Kenny said earlier this month, according to the BBC. “He represents a modern, diverse and inclusive Ireland and speaks for them like no other, an Ireland in which each person can fulfill their potential and live their dreams.”

Featured Image via Flickr/William Murphy