Image: Facebook/@LaylaMoranUK
A British member of parliament (MP) has come out as pansexual while also announcing her relationship with a woman.
Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran recently opened up about realizing she is pansexual and her relationship to Rosy Cobb, a former press officer from the same political party, PinkNews reported yesterday, Jan. 2.
“We’re in a really committed, loving, supportive relationship,” she told the British news site.
Moran explained that she made the public announcement because newspapers were inquiring about the relationship, as per The Guardian yesterday.
The politician previously had relationships with men; Cobb is her first same-sex partner. She told PinkNews that they met at work six months ago.
“It wasn’t really something I had done before or considered before, but sometimes when you meet the right person, it just kind of happens,” she said in the interview.
Identifying herself as pansexual, she explained, “Pansexuality, to me, means it doesn’t matter about the physical attributions of the person you fall in love with, it’s about the person themselves.”
A definition of pansexuality from Merriam-Webster dictionary describes it as “sexual desire or attraction that is not limited to people of a particular gender identity or sexual orientation.”
Moran consulted their party’s welfare officer about conflicts of interest at the start of their relationship. They were advised that it would not pose a problem.
However, when she opened up to others about the relationship, she was questioned on how a same-sex relationship could impact her career. Another issue was that Cobb was suspended from the party for allegedly forging an email.
“They definitely would not have said anything like that had she been a man,” Moran said.
“That was the moment where I realized we like to think everything is equal, that no one cares, that it wouldn’t be a detriment. The reason I’m speaking out is because I want to prove it’s not a detriment. It’s a great thing.”
Moran also went public with her sexuality on social media, posting a selfie of her and Cobb on Twitter today, Jan. 3.
“2020 is a new decade and a new path in my journey. Last year I fell in love with a wonderful woman. Something I’d never even considered before. Now I am just happy #Pansexual #OutAndProud,” she wrote.
2020 is a new decade and a new path in my journey. Last year I fell in love with a wonderful woman. Something I’d never even considered before. Now I am just happy #Pansexual #OutAndProud pic.twitter.com/jdfz87Hdkx
— Layla Moran 🔶🕊️ (@LaylaMoran) January 2, 2020
Moran looks up to LGBTQ+ government officials such as former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson and the former Conservative education secretary Justine Greening, though she believes she is the first to come out as pansexual.
She has generally found acceptance for their relationship, but is aware that LGBTQ+ equality still needs to be fought for.
Quoted in The Guardian, she said, “It would be nice to think that everything was sorted with equal marriage and that we’re all accepting. But we also know that transphobic and biphobic hate crime has gone up.” Niña V. Guno /ra
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