Cynthia Nixon Releases Statement Clarifying 'Gay by Choice' Comments

By Kris Coombs, Christian Post Contributor Tuesday, January 31, 2012

After causing a huge stir in the gay community by saying she was "gay by choice" in a New York Times interview, Cynthia Nixon has released a statement to ease contention from her critics.

The actress released her statement to The Advocate, an LGBT newsmagazine, clarifying that her feelings of bisexuality are not a choice, but that her decision to willingly participate in a gay relationship is a choice.

"My recent comments in The New York Times were about me and my personal story of being gay. I believe we all have different ways we came to the gay community and we can't and shouldn't be pigeon-holed into one cultural narrative which can be un-inclusive and disempowering," Nixon said.

"However, to the extent that anyone wishes to interpret my words in a strictly legal context I would like to clarify: While I don't often use the word, the technically precise term for my orientation is bisexual. I believe bisexuality is not a choice, it is a fact," Nixon affirmed.

"What I have 'chosen' is to be in a gay relationship."

In Nixon's controversial New York Times interview published last Sunday, she described giving a speech on gay rights and what being homosexual meant for her.

"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," Nixon said, upsetting the LGBT community, with many claiming that they are born gay.

Pam Spaulding, a lesbian, who runs LGBT blog site "Pam's House Blend," previously commented on Nixon's comments, saying: "The problem with her statement is that it comes at a time when much of America finally has heard enough science points to being gay (or straight, for that matter) is certainly not a choice. While a black-and-white notion about sexual orientation is helpful to the lesbian and gay movement in the struggle for equality, this thinking at the same time renders bisexuality invisible."

Nixon, however, has now come out to try and further explain her previous comments: "As I said in the Times and will say again here, I do, however, believe that most members of our community -- as well as the majority of heterosexuals -- cannot and do not choose the gender of the persons with whom they seek to have intimate relationships because, unlike me, they are only attracted to one sex."