He told crowds at Sunday's parade: "We need to stand up to homophobic bullying in workplaces an schools, we need to make more advances in the area of sexual health; that is a key priority for me at home and internationally."Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar take part in the Montréal Pride Parade today. #PrideMTL pic.twitter.com/plaUhA8rsr
— CanadianPM (@CanadianPM) August 20, 2017
The former Minister for Social Protection continued: "Countries that are progressive, open and diverse, like Canada and Ireland have a responsibility to other people in other parts of the world where equality and equal rights are under threat and the clock is being turned backwards.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, his partner Matt Barrett and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau at Montreal PrIde @IrishTimes pic.twitter.com/jVvweMTTnm
— Fiach Kelly (@fiachkelly) August 20, 2017
"We need to use our voices to stand up to communities who face real threats and real dangers."
Mr Varadkar, the son of an Indian immigrant doctor, came out in 2015 in the run-up to Ireland's referendum on equal marriage, which at the time made him Ireland's first openly gay cabinet member in Ireland.
Meanwhile, Montreal Pride week saw the City of Montreal and its police force issue an historic public apology to the LGBT community for past institutional discrimination and crackdowns on gay bars and clubs from the 1970s to the 1990s, CBC News reports.





