Ireland's health minister, tipped as a future prime minister, came out as the first openly gay Cabinet member in a Catholic country that until the 1990s banned homosexuality.
Leo Varadkar, 36, discussed his sexuality in an interview Sunday on state broadcaster RTE Radio. The son of an Indian immigrant and a doctor before entering national politics, Varadkar has odds of 2 to 1 to replace Enda Kenny as the next leader of the Fine Gael party, according to bookmaker Paddy Power PLC.
"It's not something that defines me," Varadkar said in the interview. "I'm not a half-Indian politician or a doctor politician or a gay politician. It's just part of who I am."