Ellen Page comes out as gay

Actress Ellen Page has revealed she is gay.

The Juno star spoke openly about her sexuality at Human Rights Campaign’s Time to Thrive conference in Las Vegas last night (February 14).

Page told the audience: “I’m here today because I am gay. And because maybe I can make a difference – to help others have an easier and more hopeful time. Regardless, for me, I feel a personal obligation and a social responsibility.”

She continued: “I also do it selfishly, because I am tired of hiding and I am tired of lying by omission. I suffered for years because I was scared to be out.

“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.

“I am young, yes, but what I have learned is that love, the beauty of it, the joy of it and yes, even the pain of it, is the most incredible gift to give and to receive as a human being. And we deserve to experience love fully, equally, without shame and without compromise.”

Human Rights Campaign describes Time to Thrive as its “inaugural national conference promoting safety, inclusion and well-being for LGBTQ youth everywhere”. More information is available at timetothrive.org.

Page, 26, won a BAFTA for her performance as a wise-cracking pregnant teenager in 2007’s Juno. She has since appeared in films including Whip It, Inception and To Rome With Love and will be seen in X-Men: Days of Future Past, which opens in cinemas this May.

Watch Ellen Page’s full speech at the Time to Thrive conference below:

[youtube height=”315″ width=”560″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hlCEIUATzg[/youtube]