One of America’s first elected lesbian governors is visiting Ireland on LBGTQ rights anniversary

By STEVE LeBLANC
Associated Press

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has been invited to address the Irish Senate on Tuesday. She’ll be there to help commemorate the 30th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in Ireland. Healey is one of the first two openly lesbian elected governors in the U.S. and a descendant of Irish immigrants. Ireland’s government decriminalized homosexual acts in 1993. It took the predominantly Catholic country another two decades before Irish voters legalized same-sex marriage in 2015. Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to legalize gay marriage in 2004. Healey’s trip coincides with the 60th anniversary of a state visit to Ireland by another Massachusetts Democrat — President John F. Kennedy.