Former "Sex and the City" star Cynthia Nixon is holding firm to her statement that she has chosen to be homosexual, although her comments have sparked controversy in the gay and lesbian community.
"For me, it is a choice," Nixon says in a New York Times Magazine profile. "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."
Her statement hasn't gone over well with gay activists. Writing in AMERICAblog Gay, John Aravosis says that Nixon, who had a long relationship with a man that produced two children before coming out as gay in 2004, is actually bisexual. "She needs to learn how to choose her words better, because she just fell into a right-wing trap, willingly," he writes, "When the religious right says it's a choice, they mean you quite literally choose your sexual orientation, you can change it at will, and that's bull."
He went on to say, "Every religious right hatemonger is now going to quote this woman every single time they want to deny us our civil rights."
Nixon seemed to anticipate the controversy when she gave her interview to the New York Times, saying then "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."
Some saw a humorous side. Jack Cullen, who writes for Gay Times, tweeted: "Putting Cynthia Nixon to one side. Let's hear from some famous bisexual men who chose to be straight, starting with EVERYONE IN HOLLYWOOD."
Nixon came out as gay in 2004, and is in a relationship with Christine Marinoni. The two have a son together in addition to Nixon's children from her previous relationship. She is currently starring as a woman undergoing cancer treatement in the Broadway play "Wit." Nixon herself discovered she had an early stage of breast cancer in 2006.
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