Actress Ellen Page, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role as the pregnant teenager in the 2007 film "Juno," came out as gay Friday at a conference in Las Vegas for educators and counselors who work with gay youth, The Los Angeles Times reported.
"I’m here today because I am gay, and because maybe I can make a difference,” the 26-year-old actress told hundreds of school counselors, educators and other attendees at the Human Rights Campaign conference. “I feel a personal obligation and a social responsibility. I also do it selfishly, because I am tired of hiding and I am tired of lying by omission.”
The announcement was greeted with a standing ovation from the crowd of about 600. Page said in her speech that the entertainment industry's "crushing standards" of beauty and success made it difficult for her to "be authentic," the Times reported.
“I suffered for years because I was scared to be out,” Page told the crowd. “My spirit suffered, my mental health suffered and my relationships suffered. And I’m standing here today, with all of you, on the other side of all that pain.”
The Human Rights Campaign's "Time to THRIVE" conference at Bally's Las Vegas is the first large-scale national conference to promote safety, inclusion and well-being for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth, according to the group's website.
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