Actress Cynthia Nixon, 45, has angered gay rights activists by saying she chooses to be gay. Nixon insists that, for her, being gay is a choice, just like being celibate or bisexual is a choice.
The former ‘Sex and the City‘ star’s choice of words flies in the face of what gay rights advocates want us to believe — that being gay is not a choice.
But Nixon, who has 2 biological children with her old college sweetheart, Daniel Mozes, said “Why can’t it be a choice? Why is that any less legitimate? It seems we’re just ceding this point to bigots who are demanding it, and I don’t think that they should define the terms of the debate.”
“I gave a speech recently, an empowerment speech to a gay audience, and it included the line ‘I’ve been straight and I’ve been gay, and gay is better.’ And they tried to get me to change it, because they said it implies that homosexuality can be a choice. And for me, it is a choice,” she said. “I understand that for many people it’s not, but for me it’s a choice, and you don’t get to define my gayness for me. A certain section of our community is very concerned that it not be seen as a choice, because if it’s a choice, then we could opt out. I say it doesn’t matter if we flew here or we swam here, it matters that we are here and we are one group and let us stop trying to make a litmus test for who is considered gay and who is not.
I also feel like people think I was walking around in a cloud and didn’t realize I was gay, which I find really offensive. I find it offensive to me, but I also find it offensive to all the men I’ve been out with.”
According to Radaronline.com, “The Huffington Post reports that America Blog writer John Aravosis is amongst those displeased by Nixon’s “choice” of words.”
“It’s not a ‘choice,’ unless you consider my opting to date a guy with brown hair versus a guy with blonde hair a ‘choice,'” he writes. “It’s only a choice among flavors I already like… every religious right hatemonger is now going to quote this woman every single time they want to deny us our civil rights.”
