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Ireland’s Health Minister Leo Varadkar has come out of the closet this morning, becoming the first openly gay minister in the country’s history.

The Irish Times reports:

“I am a gay man, it’s not a secret, but not something that everyone would necessarily know but isn’t something I’ve spoken publicly about before,” he told Miriam O’Callaghan on RTÉ Radio 1.

“It’s not something that defines me,”he said. “I’m not a half-Indian politician, or a doctor politician or a gay politician for that matter. It’s just part of who I am, it doesn’t define me, it is part of my character I suppose”.

Varadkar says he decided to begin speaking publicly about his sexuality because of the upcoming political debates surrounding LGBT issues: the marriage equality referendum and the debate over blood donations from gay and bisexual men. 

Listen to Varadkar’s “coming out” interview, AFTER THE JUMP…