• Ireland set to have first gay Prime Minister
    10 replies, posted
[quote]Leo Varadkar has been announced as the leader of the biggest party in Ireland's ruling coalition, Fine Gael. Mr Varadkar beat his rival, Housing Minister Simon Coveney, with 60% of the votes. He will become Ireland's first gay taoiseach (prime minister). He is expected to take over from former Fine Gael leader, Enda Kenny, in the next few weeks. At 38, he will also be Ireland's youngest ever prime minister.[/quote] [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40139428[/url]
Cool? More importantly tho, is he an okay lad?
One of the worst ministers for Social Protection in ever. The alternative was the worst minister for Housing in ever. There's a homelessness and housing/rental crisis in this country and these two have done fuck all in the last few years to remedy it.
Well, he's certainly a cock sucker
Fuck I should have posted this first. And under a different title too. Nobody cared about the fact Leo Varadkar was gay here. It was mentioned little besides the "historics" of it. I think Irish people in general accept gay people for the most part, especially after the gay marriage referendum, and have moved on. There were bigger issues with respect to their records in office and policies etc. I honestly have no idea what to think of him. I'll note that Fine Gael failed in a number of ways in office, and continue to fail. There's a huge homeless crisis in Ireland that has yet to be adequately addressed. There are social issues not being tackled like drugs, etc. Simon Coveny was handling housing. While he may have been popular with the Fine Gale party base, I'm getting the feeling his fellow cabinet ministers thought that he wouldn't look good to the general public because of it. That, or they had no faith in his ability because of this. Varadkar launched a stupid as fuck campaign against "social welfare scougers", which is not a problem and is a distraction from our failings in social welfare on policy. He wasn't great at health (but we've been lacking in talent for that for literal generations at this point) and transport either, really. However, I don't think he's entirely too bad. As far as I remember he is committed to an abortion referendum (a complicated issue in Ireland) and I remember him being OK on some other policies too. I'm not a Fine Gael supporter (I'm very left on social issues and left on economic issues, while Fine Gael is right economically and somewhat in the centre when it comes to social issues), but Varadkar seems OK. He's likely to be the next Taoiseach (Fine Gael don't have a majority in the Dail - so Fianna Fail will need to support his election, but they have no reason to oppose it) - but for how long? I do wonder when we will have our next election. Varadkar inherits a lot of problems. There are internal problems like homelessness, the future of our health system, a lot of political reform is necessary, the abortion referendum, etc. And then there is Brexit. This is perhaps the one good thing of Fine Gael continuing to govern; Enda Kenny set up a [B][I]LOT[/I][/B] of links with Europe and this was perhaps his biggest achievement. I hope he passed on the knowledge to Varadkar. It's going to be a weird, and in many ways, scary next few years for Ireland. At the same time, I have hope.
What does his sexuality have to do with politics? Who cares? First asthmatic Prime Minister First diabetic Prime Minister First midget PM
[QUOTE=ferrus;52304996]What does his sexuality have to do with politics? Who cares? First asthmatic Prime Minister First diabetic Prime Minister First midget PM[/QUOTE] The same reason the first female president will be a big deal, or the first black president, or the first anything that is/was a discriminated minority. It signifies them overcoming the stigma. [editline]2nd June 2017[/editline] Edited because you somehow managed to make your post even more ignorant.
[QUOTE=Revenge282;52305006]The same reason the first female president will be a big deal, or the first black president, or the first anything that is/was a discriminated minority. It signifies them overcoming the stigma.[/QUOTE] Nice strawman friend. Regardless of the stigma attached the fact remains his sexuality has [U]nothing [/U] to do with politics. It's completely incidental and irrelevant.
[QUOTE=ferrus;52305095]Nice strawman friend. Regardless of the stigma attached the fact remains his sexuality has [U]nothing [/U] to do with politics. It's completely incidental and irrelevant.[/QUOTE] I fail to see how my examples are any different from what we are discussing. Obama was a big deal when he was first elected because he was the first black president. That is an achievement. The first Muslim president will be an equally big deal (thought I'd take atheist over that). These traits don't affect their governing, but it is still a significant milestone socially. Please read what a strawman is as well.
[QUOTE=ferrus;52305095]Nice strawman friend. Regardless of the stigma attached the fact remains his sexuality has [U]nothing [/U] to do with politics. It's completely incidental and irrelevant.[/QUOTE] You're right and also wrong at the same time being gay/trans/muslim/jewish/diabetic has nothing to do with politics however it is a sign that society and politics itself has ascended to a point in which that type of thing can be permitted to happen
[QUOTE=ferrus;52304996]What does his sexuality have to do with politics? Who cares? First asthmatic Prime Minister First diabetic Prime Minister First midget PM[/QUOTE] Ideally it shouldn't matter but we live in a society where people are willing to (pun intended) get very anal about the sexuality of others so a homosexual person being elected in a majorly Christian nation with an already exemplary stance on LGBT [I]is[/I] important and [I]is[/I] political.
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