A French minister becomes the first to come out

A French government minister became the first female minister to “come out” by discussing homosexuality in an interview.

In response to a question from Forbes about the criticism she received on social media, Sarah Al-Hairy, the youngest minister in the government, spoke about her partner, according to what was reported by “Le Parisien” on Saturday.

“I try not to read, because I know Twitter isn’t real life. But when my family or partner is affected, yeah, it hurts. But I made that choice for public action,” she quickly said.

This is the first time that a woman in the French government has revealed her homosexuality, according to the European newspaper.

Another minister had spoken about his sexual orientation in an interview, when he was the one in charge of the controversial pension reform, which for him was “neither a secret nor an issue”.

However, Ms El-Hairi made it clear on Twitter that if she is indeed the first female minister to “come out” from France, she is not the first female politician.

According to Paris Police Headquarters, the number of complaints filed regarding homophobic and transphobic acts increased by 55% in 2022.