Gay candidate leads race to be Irish president: poll.
Cool though it is, the poll is of a multi-candidate field so he doesn’t (yet?) command the support of a majority of Irish voters:
A gay Irish senator is the favourite to become Ireland’s next president, while former IRA commander Martin McGuinness is in third place, an opinion poll said Saturday.
Senator David Norris had the backing of 21 percent of those surveyed in a Red C/Sunday Business Post poll ahead of the October 27 election to succeed President Mary McAleese.
If he does win, I believe he would be the first openly gay head of state in the modern era.
Isn’t the current (or former) head of state for Iceland a lesbian?
NDT is correct.
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, the current Prime Minister of Iceland, is their Head of Government and not the Icelandic Head of State. Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson is the current President of Iceland.
Look, I don’t know this guy’s politics. He could be as detached from reality as Barney Frank. Or he could be as tough as Tammy Bruce. That is, we shouldn’t support him just because he’s gay.
I just think it’s cool that an openly gay man can do so well in a poll of candidates wishing to serve as figure-head of a nation.
Might I add that it’s cool that an openly gay man can do so in a primarily Roman Catholic country? (I find it interesting as a catholic, anyway.)
Well, there’s also James Buchanan.
Don’t think Mr. Buchanan was open about his sexuality, but his correspondence certainly indicated that he had, shall we say, tender feelings for his own sex. 🙂