Mike Pence chided for closed event with gay Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar [View all]

Last year, the Irish prime minister was welcomed by the U.S. president and vice president with open arms — and with open coverage by reporters — ahead of the annual St. Patrick's Day festivities.

But this year, Vice President Mike Pence's breakfast with new Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar will be closed to the media — at the request of the vice president. In a departure from the recent past, reporters were told Friday's event to be attended by Pence and Varadkar will be private and the media won't be invited.

Pence also had a St. Patrick's Day breakfast in March 2017 with Enda Kenny, the Irish prime minister at the time. The difference this year could possibly be Varadkar's visibility as an openly gay man as well as Pence's long record of opposing issues important to the gay and lesbian community.

People are speculating whether issues such as gay and lesbian rights and Pence's stance on gay-conversion therapy might be discussed at their meeting. For instance, the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ civil rights advocacy group, sent a tweet questioning the motive for banning the media from the Pence-Varadkar event.

Read more: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2018/03/15/mike-pence-faces-backlash-banning-media-meeting-gay-irish-prime-minister/428821002/

The Twitter comments are entertaining:

Link to tweet