A politician in France has come out as gay to help fight against homophobia and to send a positive message to LGBT youth.
French minister Mounir Mahjoubi serves as Secretary of State to the Prime Minister in charge of digital affairs. He came out earlier this week via Twitter to commemorate International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia (IDAHOTB).
“Homophobia is an evil that eats away at society, invades high schools, and poisons families and lost friends,” Mahjoubi, 34, tweeted. “Worse, it haunts the minds of gay people, and sometimes forces us to hide and lie to avoid hatred, to live.”
Mahjoubi, who received many supportive tweets from fellow politicians and LGBT followers, spoke about his decision to come out in an interview with Franceinfo.
“It was necessary to recall the consequences of homophobia in everyday life, especially among the youngest, and the consequences it had for me,” said Mahjoubi, who is of Moroccan descent.
“I think it’s important to give visibility to gay people, but I also think that everyone should do this when they’re ready to do it.”
“We are in 2018, I live my life, even public, in a quiet way,” Mahjoubi continued. “But if, on that day, I could pass the message by reinforcing it by my personal experience, I think it had to be done.”
This week French-based organization Fondation Émergence unveiled the Pride Shield, a Pride flag comprised of 193 individual flags representing every country around the world, as a “symbol of unity to stop the violence.”
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