Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey addressed the Irish Senate Tuesday as part of a multi-day trip.
Just halfway through her first year, Healey bucked tradition with the overseas trip, accepting an invitation to address the Irish Senate on the 30th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in that country.
The first openly gay governor of Massachusetts is also meeting with business and education leaders during the visit, which started Sunday and runs through Friday.
Healey’s office says the trip is also tied to the 60th anniversary of President Kennedy’s state visit to Ireland, and the Democrat was quick to put her address in context.
“It's been 19 years since we secured marriage equality in Massachusetts, eight years since both the citizens of Ireland and the Supreme Court of the United States, just one month apart, declared that love is love once and for all,” she said. “Six years since Ireland elected its first openly gay taoiseach and nearly six months since I took office as the first openly lesbian woman elected governor of the United States, by Massachusetts, the most Irish state in our country. Our nations are once again united by history.”
Healey recalled her family’s Irish roots but said Massachusetts’ relationship with Ireland does not belong to the past.
“It evolves through the exchanges of people, ideas and resources. It is a living and breathing connection, one that we have a duty to nurture, to grow, and to use for the good of all people,” she said. “There is so much for us to learn from one another as we work to protect the rights and the freedoms that we've fought hard for. And that's what we're doing this week in this, my first trip as governor. My administration's vision for Massachusetts is one that provides opportunity and wellbeing for all of our people.”
Healey is hoping to promote the Bay State to Irish businesses, highlighting its colleges, workforce and emerging technology industries.
Wrapping up her 20-minute address, Healey issued a call for cross-Atlantic partnership on problems like climate change, anti-democratic ideology in Europe, and inequality.
“We must stand together now,” she said, “not only to celebrate our progress, but to meet these challenges, rise to this moment, and show a better way forward.”
