Liberal Democrat leadership contender says she is ‘pansexual’
LAYLA Moran, a contender for the UK Liberal Democrat leadership, has announced she is “pansexual” to quell media interest in her private life.
The MP for Oxford West and Abingdon said she was in a “really, happy, loving, stable relationship” with another woman.
Mr Moran, 37, who has previously only had relationships with men, told Pink News her partner was the former Libdem press officer Rosy Cobb.
The couple also shared a picture of themselves on social media.
Ms Moran wrote: “Last year I fell in love with a wonderful woman. Something I’d never even considered before. Now I am just happy.”
Pansexuality is defined as an attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender.
Ms Moran said: “It doesn’t matter about the physical attributions of the person you fall in love with, it’s about the person themselves.
“It doesn’t matter if they’re a man or a woman or gender non-conforming, it doesn’t matter if they identify as gay or not. In the end, these are all things that don’t matter – the thing that matters is the person, and that you love the person.”
Ms Moran said she had gone public with her relationship after she and friends had been approached by newspapers about it.
She said: “If I am going to be outed, I want it to be on my own terms.”
Ms Moran, who has been tipped to succeed Jo Swinson as Libdem leader following the latter’s General Election defeat, called Westminster a “weird, backwards place” for LGBTQ people.
She said friends and family had been supportive but some people had suggested a same-sex relationship could damage her career.
She said: “They definitely would not have said anything like that had she been a man. I don’t know if there’s any other [MPS] who would identify as pansexual, and not that many who identify as bisexual – there are a few women who are brilliant role models who have come out in their lesbian relationships.”
Last March, Ms Moran admitted she and an ex-boyfriend had been arrested and detained in 2013 for assault and breach of the peace in Glasgow following a row in which she slapped him at a party conference.
She said she initially faced charges but they were dropped.
Ms Cobb was suspended by the Libdems during the election after being accused of forging an email to suppress an embarrassing party story.
Ms Moran said of Ms Cobb: “She no longer works for the party and she is not going back, so there is a line completely drawn.”