For many years, it has been traditional for the president of the United States to host a visit by the prime minister of Ireland to the White House on March 17.
This year, however, may well be exceptional.
Typically, the Irish PM visits the White House while his/her partner is hosted by the vice president. But the current prime minister of Ireland happens to be gay, and Vice President Mike Pence has been outspoken in his belief that homosexuality is a problem that can be cured with electric shock therapy and spiritual counseling.
So far, there has been no report that the Irish leader's partner will accompany him on the visit to America. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar did visit America last year, but this year there is speculation in Ireland that the prime minister's partner will not attend.
(Update: Varadker visited the president at the White House on Thursday, before traveling to Chicago for the parade this weekend. Varadker's partner, Matt, did come along and visited the vice president. No report yet on how that went.)
Perhaps neither will feel welcome. And how this snubbery will affect voter attitude is yet another issue.
Also, a visit to Ireland by the U.S. president planned for last September was cancelled after the Irish people scheduled massive protests in greeting.
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