Straights don’t ‘come out’. Why should gays?

Health Minister Leo Varadker has ‘come out’ as gay. As a gay man, I think this is brilliant. However, a part of me feels sad that his ‘coming out’ (it’s a peculiar expression) has made such headline news. Do heterosexual people ‘come out’?

During a recent conversation with an old school friend, over a few pints, the conversation moved onto a mutual friend who had recently ‘come out.’

I casually said to my friend that I was gay, and that I was not sure if he knew that. He said that he had known and said “we are all God’s children.” Neither of us felt the need to say anything else and the conversation changed.

I know many young gay people will welcome Varadker’s announcement and it will come up in conversations in households all across the country. It may even help some gay people to ‘come out’, if that is what they wish to do.

However, the media attention to this will die down and the conversation will move on and rightly so.

Now, what were we talking about? It’s the economy, stupid... or, more specifically in Leo’s case, hospital waiting lists and the numbers of people on trolleys.

Tommy Roddy

Lower Salthill,

Galway