Panti Bliss Makes Most Influential Europeans List

Irish civil rights goddess Panti Bliss has been ranked at #12 in Politico‘s annual list of the 28 most-influential Europeans. From their bio:

The outspoken queen captured the public imagination in a country that didn’t decriminalize gay sex until 1993. O’Neill was surprised himself. He charts it up to the fact that drag queens, often considered “fun” and almost “cartoonish” in popular culture, are divorced from the messy moral questions that plague other public figures, and can be more relatable. Ahead of the referendum, Bliss took to the campaign trail to appeal to younger people, with whom he is most popular, and to rally doubters in support of the cause. The campaign won.

Ireland’s lightning shift away from Catholic orthodoxy resonated beyond its borders, offering hope that gay rights can flourish even in unlikely places. O’Neill plays down his own role and credits the country’s activists, the power of the internet and Irish kindness for the referendum result. Next up: fighting for LGBT rights outside Ireland. “We have achieved an incredible amount in a very short amount of time, and I think how we did that is instructive for other minority groups,” he says. Is Putin ready for a Russian drag queen extraordinaire?

Politico names 28 people to the annual list because the EU presently has 28 member nations. See the full list here.