Coming out Conner Rousseau, with West Flemish links

taketonews

Coming out Conner Rousseau, with West Flemish links

There are also two reports about possible inappropriate behavior playing in the background. With a West Flemish link.

It is in a video of almost fifteen minutes – made by reporter Eric Goens from Koksijde – that Vooruit chairman Conner Rousseau, who has roots in Nieuwpoort, expresses his doubts about his orientation. A doubt that has been with him for a long time. And what he hasn’t finished yet. He can get feelings for at least men and women, he says, but he doesn’t want to be put in a ‘kotje’. In the video, Rousseau also refers to a few moments in his youth that marked him in that area.

Remarkable timing

The fact that Rousseau is coming out with the video now, mid-June, is not a campaign stunt, emphasize other leaders at Vooruit. They also advised him on that timing themselves. The time has just been chosen to be ahead of the campaign – which will probably dominate the Wetstraat after the summer towards the elections in June ’24. But there’s something else involved. Rousseau feels “hunted wild”. And that has nothing to do with campaign stress. With a rumor mill and with two preliminary investigations by the public prosecutor.

One of those preliminary investigations also has a West Flemish link. “A witch hunt,” says his lawyer Christine Mussche. It concerns a report about possible inappropriate behavior by a minor, which has been received by the public prosecutor’s office of West Flanders. However, according to the lawyer, this report was not submitted by the victim or his environment, but by a journalist. The public prosecutor of West Flanders has started a preliminary investigation with the report. But the public prosecutor’s office has dismissed the case, so that it is without object, and is actually no news. A second similar preliminary investigation, by the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office, is still ongoing.

Conner Rousseau does not give interviews about all this. He’s leaving on vacation now. Almost all West Flemish Vooruit leaders, such as Melissa Depraetere from Stasegem, express their support for their chairman on social media. They are talking about a gossip and slander campaign. A rumor mill that has focused on Rousseau in recent weeks.

Video for sale

As a sideline in the whole story, the fact that the video that Conner Rousseau had Eric Goens record, has been offered for sale to various news editors. 750 euros for one minute, 1500 euros for the entire video. Which no news medium has addressed. Vooruit decided fairly quickly that the video should be available for free after all. It can also be viewed on youtube. It gives Rousseau’s coming out, in perception, the feeling of a commercialized emotion for some.



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