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Celebrity

05th Dec 2022

He may be a politician, but Leo Varadkar’s personal life is none of our business

Ellen Fitzpatrick

It’s none of our business.

Leo Varadkar was allegedly filmed over the weekend while out in The George in Dublin kissing a man many claims is not his husband Matt.

While Leo may be a politician and very much in the public eye, his personal life is none of our business and we have no right to know about it.

If someone in his position does something in their own time, unless of course, it impacts the state of the country, we need to mind our own business.

Leo was filmed in The George over the weekend kissing somebody, and while like many I don’t agree with his politics, what he gets up to in his own time is his business and nobody else’s – of course given that it’s nothing illegal.

When we think of political scandals when it comes to politicians and their love lives, we think of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky or Matt Hancock and that video. These are different in the sense that Clinton’s interfered with his presidency as she worked for him while Hancock’s was during strict Covid restrictions which he broke. Their actions had nothing to do with the affair, it was the circumstances surrounding it.

What we’re looking at with Leo is completely different and should never have been filmed let alone spread online. While it is perfectly legal for anyone to film another adult in a public place without their consent, his personal life is nobody’s business.

We’ve all been there in a nightclub when we’re shifting someone and our friends take pictures, when we look back now we think of how childish and immature it is. But usually, it’s different because it’s our friends only trying to slag us and the furthest the video will go is a group chat.

While it’s still not okay to do, it’s far more innocent. When it comes to this video of Leo, it was done with the purpose of accusing him of something.

Nobody knows the circumstances of the kiss or his relationship with Matt, and whatever it is is something they should be the only ones involved in.

The issue many people are having with this is that it was filmed in a gay club, in a safe space for LGBTQ+ people. Gay clubs and bars were created to allow LGBTQ+ to be protected and have fun in a place they know won’t put them in danger. So somebody going in a filming something of this nature with the intent to post it on social media is an issue regardless of who it is.

People are forgetting that former Taoiseach or not, there is another person in the video whose privacy also needs to be respected. Whether it is Matt or not, we don’t know their situation and posting a video of them like this could be extremely dangerous for them.

One Twitter user summed it up perfectly, saying: “Personally my biggest issue with the Leo Varadkar video is that someone filmed two people kissing in a gay club which is a terrifying thought to any gay person who isn’t out publicly but feel safe in that space.”

Unless Leo’s actions have a direct impact on the public, we don’t need to know about it. Unless there was some type of legal implication when it came to his actions, we don’t need to know about it. This goes for anyone in politics and should stay this way.

You don’t have to agree with his decision making or political stance, I will be the first to say I don’t at all but nobody has the right to comment on someone they don’t know’s personal life when it doesn’t affect anyone but them.