Cynthia Nixon: For Me, Being Gay 'Is a Choice'

Activists not happy with actress' choice of words
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 24, 2012 8:43 AM CST
Updated Jan 24, 2012 10:58 AM CST
Cynthia Nixon: For Me, Being Gay 'Is a Choice'
In this photo taken by Brian Ach and released by ID-PR, actress Cynthia Nixon, left, and Christine Marinoni pose with their son Max on Friday, Feb. 11, 2011 in New York. Max was born on Feb. 7.   (AP Photo/ID-PR, Brian Ach)

Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon stirred up some controversy with her interview in Sunday's New York Times Magazine, in which she said that homosexuality is, for her, "a choice." Nixon, promoting her appearance in a Broadway play opening Thursday, explained that she recently gave a speech to a gay audience that included the line, "I’ve been straight and I’ve been gay, and gay is better." She was asked to change it because "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," she continued. She notes that the idea is controversial, but in her view, "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. … Why can’t it be a choice? Why is that any less legitimate?" Perez Hilton was less than satisfied with her choice of words, and gay blogger John Aravosis says Nixon is actually bisexual, "and doesn't quite get that most people aren't able to have sexual romantic relationships with both men and women because they're just not into both genders." Click for more on Nixon's relationship. (More Cynthia Nixon stories.)

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