Coming out is best thing I’ve done – Justine

JUSTINE Greening has revealed that coming out as a lesbian is the ‘best thing’ she has done.

The Education Secretary said she was persuaded to disclose her sexuality by her girlfriend, who said it could make life easier for other gay people. She posted about her sexuality on Twitter last summer – becoming the first openly lesbian Cabinet minister.

Speaking at an event hosted by LGBT schools project Just Like Us last night, the 47-year- old (pictured) said she had been inspired by Scottish Secretary David Mundell, who came out as gay last year.

She added: ‘David Mundell was amazing in terms of being a Cabinet minister and saying: I’m gay and that’s that. It made me think I should do that.

‘Then of course John Browne who wrote his book. My other half Tess bought me a copy and gave it to me. It was her way of saying: Think about this. I realised that actually if I was not going to be part of the solution, then I was implicitly part of the problem.

‘I needed to have the courage to say this is fine, in fact it’s better than fine.’

Miss Greening went on: ‘ Doing my tweet was the best thing I’ve done in many, many a year. I am better for being who I am and being clear about that.’

She added that she believed she would have benefited from gay role models at school. ‘I think it would have been really helpful growing up,’ she said.

Miss Greening revealed her sexuality in a message on Twitter on the day of the London Pride march last June, two days after the Brexit referendum.

She wrote: ‘Today’s a good day to say I’m in a happy same sex relationship, I campaigned for Stronger In but sometimes you’re better off out!’

Last night, she said she ‘ was quite taken aback about how many people talked to me about it’.

The Putney MP added: ‘It really struck me in my constituency how many parents wrote to me saying: thank you, you made it easier for my child at school.’