Ireland’s former taoiseach warns of conservative Russian influence and says US is now ‘off the pitch’ under Trump
LGBTQ+ rights in Europe are caught in a “chill wind” from east and west as Vladimir Putin’s Russia exports its conservative agenda and the “Americans are off the pitch” under Donald Trump, Ireland’s former taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.
Varadkar, who in 2017 became Ireland’s first out gay prime minister, said Europe needed to “step up” to avoid the continent becoming further squeezed by global forces seeking to chip away at recent progress.
“I’m afraid of where things are going,” he said. “Europe is still the light when it comes to human rights and democracy and freedom of expression, given what else is going on in the world – but it’s a flickering light.”
Varadkar, who unexpectedly stepped down in 2024, said his role as a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights had given him a frontline view of global efforts to reshape LGBTQ+ rights.
