Conner Rousseau’s coming out: Vooruit chairman shares candid video about sexual orientation | Instagram VTM NEWS

Rousseau takes fourteen minutes to make it clear that he also likes men. In addition, the Vooruit chairman explains why he did not want to share this with anyone for a long time. Now he does, in a conversation with reporter Eric Goens – with whom Rousseau maintained good relations after his participation in ‘Het huis’.

“I normally get my words out well, but now when it comes to myself it’s different. My sexuality is something everyone likes to speculate about and I myself struggled with for about three years. Especially if everyone asks. That works for a number of years, but I now notice that it has reached a point where it paralyzes me enormously. I struggle with my sexuality. We are 2023. That is not an issue in these times, but I myself have a hard time with it,” says Rousseau in the video.

“As long as I struggle with it, I don’t think other people are having an affair with it. I still think so. It doesn’t make life easier that you’re not completely straight, especially if you don’t know where life will take you, what it will eventually be or if you – like me – have a strong desire to have children. I fought a lot with myself for a very long time.”

About two years ago, Rousseau talked about it with his best friend. He informed his mother about two weeks ago. “It was a pleasant conversation,” he says. Rousseau experiences extra pressure because he is a public figure. “You have to choose your own pace,” he says.

“I feel hunted wild because people are constantly speculating about this. I’m gasping for breath and I hope this can give me some breath and mental space again,” he continues. Rousseau tells that he was confronted with various gossip. “I get a call asking if I’m in a relationship with person X, but I’ve never heard of that person,” it says.

Rousseau also thought about his sexuality during his teenage years, but put it away in a box that remained closed. “When I was about 13 or 14 years old, I had a bad experience,” says Rousseau. His father preferred him to play football, but Rousseau preferred to dance. He was bullied about this at school.

“It was quite drastic,” he said. “You feel lonely and dark at a very young age. I had bad thoughts then. In second or third high school we had to take a shower after mountain biking. I was then detained and photos were taken of me. Those images were then edited. They had erased my genitals. Those photos were forwarded to the rest of the school. I went to the dance school the following week to say that I was quitting.”

“Friends, mates, followers. I have to tell you something… After years of fighting with myself. After nights of worrying. After much gossip and hassle, I have decided. I’m going to talk about it. About my sexual orientation,” Rousseau also writes today on his Instagram page.

“It is 2023. And, so to speak, not an issue for anyone. It shouldn’t be anyway. Yet I am constantly asked about it. I am constantly urged to talk about it. Public, while this is private. Get laughed at and blamed about it. Don’t put me in a box. I’m still searching. Been in deep, but it’s going much better. Have wonderful friends who help me. Relativize. To accept. With laughter and tears”, it sounds.

“Because only I can tell my story. And that story does not fit into a short text. I recorded a video. With that I say everything I want to say about it in one go. I know there’s going to be a lot of shit and sh*t. Apparently that’s part of it if you’re famous. I will lean on the people who support me. Hoping that I can find some more mental peace after this. Hopefully this won’t be an issue anymore. For nobody. I would like to invite you to watch my video. Everything will be fine, right?”

Elections are coming up next year. “I know the coming year will be very tough,” he continues. “I’ve always thought: ‘I’m now focusing on my job until the elections. Then I will say something about it when I know more about what I want to know or what I want.” But he notices that it gnaws at him enormously. “Very honest? From a professional responsibility point of view I have something like ‘it’s too much of a liability’. Do I want to take the risk that it will prevent me from being the best version of myself professionally? No. I hope – by clarifying this, because it is not even completely clear to myself – that people will again leave me alone in that area.”

What is striking is that Rousseau has not, as always, put a video on his social media. This time he worked together with reporter Eric Goens. The two say they met in 2021, when Rousseau was a guest at Goens in ‘Het huis’. The party chairman then spoke openly about his private life, but a coming out did not follow. At least not for the cameras. Behind the scenes, the two spoke confidentially about how Rousseau struggled with his sexuality. In recent months, the two have seen each other again more often, because Goens follows Rousseau in the context of a documentary. It was during one of those meetings that the idea came to record a video and publicize the politician’s coming out. According to Goens himself, he was not paid by the Vooruit party.

The video was offered for payment to this editor and also to other media houses. As a matter of principle, we decided not to pay for the interview, because it was a finished ‘interview’ with a Flemish politician who you see weekly on television, who is interviewed by our journalists and is known for his accessibility, but where we do not ask him ourselves could set. He spreads the message himself on his social media and offers it to the whole of Flanders.

According to Pol Deltour of the Flemish Association of Journalists, the journalistic code is in any case clear: “The principle is that no payment is made for information, unless it concerns a cost-covering fee,” it says.

Previously, Goens also worked on a documentary about Flemish Member of Parliament Sihame El Kaouakibi. That report has yet to be broadcast.

About two weeks ago, the Vooruit chairman announced on Instagram that he would take a break. “In order to stand up for others, I have to be at my best. That’s why I’m going to slow down a bit in the near future. Less active here. Respond less quickly. Putting it all together for myself. Let everything sink in. Catch your breath,” he wrote at the time. The announcement followed shortly after he was re-elected as chairman of Vooruit with no less than 95.63 percent.

There have also been two preliminary investigations in recent weeks, without an investigating judge being involved, writes the Belga news agency. One of these was started after our investigative editors shared information about inappropriate behavior by Rousseau and a minor with the court. The court then decided to launch its own investigation, but that was dropped. In addition, there would be a second report, about events with a second minor.

The Antwerp public prosecutor’s office confirms that it received a letter on May 19 about Vooruit chairman Conner Rousseau. Its contents will not be communicated. “In the first instance, it will have to be investigated whether there could be criminal offenses,” it sounds. A judicial investigation will only come in a possible next phase. The public prosecutor’s office has “given the necessary instructions to the police” for the investigation.

Read also: The fact that Conner Rousseau is slowing down fits perfectly in Vooruit’s strategy (+)