Digital minister Mounir Mahjoubi has come out
A French minister has come out as gay to highlight how homophobia can be stopped with visibility.
Digital Minister Mounir Mahjoubi posted a tweet late on International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia last night (17 May).
The 34-year-old junior minister said homophobia ‘sometimes forces us to adapt and lie just to avoid hatred and to live our lives.’
‘Homophobia is an ill that eats away at society, invades schools, and poisons families and lost friends,’ Mahjoubi added.
French minister comes out as gay to fight homophobia
Majhoubi is the son of Moroccan immigrants. Even though he grew up very poor, he became a successful tech entrepreneur.
‘We have to remember the consequences of homophobia in daily life, notably for the young. It has also had consequences for me,”’he told Franceinfo radio in an interview.
Mahjoubi added: ‘I think it’s important to give visibility to homosexuals, but I also think that everyone should do this when they’re ready to do it.
‘Everyone has their history, their culture, their family … We do not have to impose transparency on anyone. Everyone manages his life as he wishes.’
He said he felt like he had to come out to show visibility.
‘It had to be done.’
‘We are in 2018, I live my life, even public, in a quiet way,’ Mahjoubi said.
‘But if, on that day, I could pass the message by reinforcing it by my personal experience, I think it had to be done.’
According to French gay rights charity SOS Homophobie, the number of physical attacks due to homophobia jumped by 15% from 2016 to 2017.
SOS Homophobie association hailed it as a ‘courageous and strong declaration’.
France legalized same-sex marriage in 2013.
