‘Homosexuality Can Be a Choice’: Cynthia Nixon’s Comments Spark Online Backlash

Nixon, who will star in the upcoming Broadway show 'Wit,' found herself facing Internet criticism after making comments about her sexuality

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Actress Cynthia Nixon, best known for her role as Miranda on Sex and the City, has angered some online with her comments in a recent New York Times Magazine interview meant to promote her starring role in the upcoming Broadway production Wit. Here’s a key excerpt from the interview:

“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. 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 … 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.”

Openly gay celebrity blogger Perez Hilton was not happy and reacted swiftly on his website. The excerpt below summarizes his thoughts on Nixon’s comments:

“We totally hear her out and true, we cannot define her ‘gayness,’ but it wasn’t a choice for us. We were BORN gay. And millions of gay people around the world feel the same way.”

Political blogger John Aravosis did not respond favorably either, expressing his disapproval to thousands of followers:

“And if you like both flavors, men and women, you’re bisexual, you’re not gay, so please don’t tell people that you are gay, and that gay people can ‘choose’ their sexual orientation, i.e., will it out of nowhere. Because they can’t. And when you tell the NYT they can, you do tremendous damage to our civil rights effort. Every religious-right hatemonger is now going to quote this woman every single time they want to deny us our civil rights. Thanks.”

Nixon clearly saw this debate coming, and pre-emptively argued her point to the Times:

“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 also feel like people think I was walking around in a cloud and didn’t realize I was gay, which I find really offensive.”

Prior to her current relationship with Christine Marinoni, Nixon was involved with a man, English professor Danny Mozes. She and Mozes had two children together.

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