Layla Moran shuts down myth she came out to benefit career, reveals how she’s been hounded by journalists
Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran came out as pansexual. (Nina Lecourt)
Liberal Democrat MP and potential party leader Layla Moran, who revealed that she is pansexual, has dispelled the idea that she came out to further her career.
Last week, Moran revealed for the first time that she is in a relationship with a woman and identifies as pansexual in an exclusive interview with PinkNews.
The MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, who was first elected to parliament in 2017, is in a relationship with former Lib Dem head of media Rosy Cobb.
She explained that she identifies as pansexual because “it doesn’t matter about the physical attributions of the person you fall in love with, it’s about the person themselves”.
Moran has since been accused of “cheaply weaponising” her sexuality to “look woke” and further her career in a Mail on Sunday article, which mostly quoted Mumsnet users.
Responding to the accusations, Moran wrote in a piece for indy100: “The story frames my actions, my telling of my story, as a calculated plan. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
“While I am proud of who I am, it was the media who I felt intimidated me into doing it at a time, not of my choosing.”
She said she had decided to come out because she feared being outed by journalists.
She continued: “Last Saturday the Mail on Sunday contacted me directly to tell me they were publishing something with less than 24 hours notice. I pleaded with them to wait.
“I hadn’t yet told my 92-year-old grandma who reads their paper ‘just for the crossword’ and I couldn’t bear the idea she would see it before anything else.
“I have learnt that reporters have been offering money and doorstepping houses of an ex-boyfriend and former neighbours looking for information about either of us. All because I had the prerogative and confidence to tell our story myself.”
Layla Moran said that while coming out wasn’t her choice, she doesn’t “regret a moment of it”.
Layla Moran said that while the newspaper agreed not to write the story that day, she still feared they would publish it in the future, so she “take back the control”, tell her grandma and come out publicly.
Moran wrote: “It’s possible that to some journalists and readers this is a jolly jape where they get one over me, but to me, this is my life.
“However, now it’s done I’ve been made all the more aware of how important LGBT+ visibility is in society and I don’t regret a moment of it. You could say it’s lead to me having the confidence I wish I’d had all along.”
