Green Party leader Roderic O'Gorman has been the target of abuse due to his sexuality, and explained how he copes with it both online and in person.
The politician came out as gay in public two decades ago, and last year he married his long-time partner Ray Healy, who works in nursing regulation.
The happy couple tied the knot after a two-year engagement beginning in September 2021, and the wedding marked the first-ever same-sex marriage of a minister while holding office in the Irish government.
Read more: Green Party leader Roderic O'Gorman's summer wedding to long-term partner Ray Healy
Read more: Grainne Seoige hits back at "celebrity candidate" comments as she runs for the Dail
He shared that his appointment as Minister for Children turned him into a target for homophobic abuse from the moment he stepped into the role.
“The far right on social media were having a go at me in my first week in the job. [In that first week] there was a demonstration outside Dáil Éireann and a group of people had a noose for me. That was before I had passed a law or implemented a policy," he told Independent.ie.
“It was simply me — let’s be honest about it — as a gay man as Minister for Children [that] was triggering for some far-right activists, and it has been like that from day one.”
He said that some of the abuse is rooted in the false and incorrect association of homosexuality with paedophilia, and that language to this effect has been directed towards him on social media.
“I don’t like talking about it, because I don’t like it to seem that I am playing some kind of ‘pity me’ card. The way I deal with it is I get on with the work. I ignore it and try to lock it out as much as possible.
“I don’t engage with [social media] any more. I can’t let it into my headspace.”
While he rises firmly above the abuse, he says that it does have an impact.
“As an example, I was out for lunch with my other half on Sunday week. We were just queuing in a café and two people came up to me and started shouting — ‘You f***ing paedophile. I would f***ing kill you if there weren’t people around!’
“You just try to ignore it and order your coffee — but myself and Ray, we have a little nephew and we take him out to a playground and it’s in the back of my mind: is someone going to come up and start shouting or make some sort of intervention?
“People have become so twisted in terms of what they are seeing about me online all of the time. These things — they flit at the back of my mind. I try to push them down and just get on with it, but I can’t pretend they are not there at all.”
He said previously that the majority of the abuse he receives is “very much focused on being gay."
He told RTÉ’s The Week In Politics programme that the abuse includes comments on social media making extreme allegations about him. He no longer responds to tweets “because some of the stuff is so nasty” and said he does not want to be distracted from his political work.
“It’s not something I’m terribly comfortable talking about but I’m also aware that right now online and in various public for a lot of people who are gay or advocating on LGBT+ issues are facing vicious abuse,” he said.
“On a daily basis, me and my team are cleaning off comments on my social media – paedophile, child groomer, all this sort of stuff.”
“Every politician has to be ready for robust criticism, absolutely. But there is a definite change in dialogue in some parts of the public on these issues.
“I’m able to take it but for young people who are online and having to face similar attacks it is really difficult, and I think it’s important we call it out.”
If you have been impacted by homophobia or issues around sexuality, help is available via the National LGBT.ie helpline, freephone 1800 929 539 Monday to Thursday: 6:30pm to 10:00pm, Fridays: 4:00pm to 10:00pm, and weekends: 4:00pm to 6:00pm
English (US) ·