CYNTHIA NIXON ON BEING GAY: ‘FOR ME IT’S A CHOICE’
Huffington Post“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. 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.”
…
“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. I find it offensive to me, but I also find it offensive to all the men I’ve been out with.”
PREACH
I…kinda love this.
FUCK YES
Hm. I shall think on this.
I really like this. Now, I know there is some biological evidence that hormone titers during fetal development can be positively correlated with adult sexual preference, but the thing is?
“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…”
This. This right here. For some people it isn’t a choice. For some people, it is.
To make this personal, I don’t think I was born with an attraction towards the male form. That is something I cultivated over a few years after some self reflection and exploration. I can pretty confidently say I am bisexual (or at least bi-curious), in that the male form can arouse me, but it was not always this way!
So for me, it is definitely not a choice! But at the same time, I know for a lot of people that they can’t be any other way! The important thing is that both are perfectly acceptable!
It frustrates me to no end that the only way non-traditional sexual orientations and gender expression can be legitimized in the public mindset is if they are assumed to be “fixed”, that is some sort of thing someone can’t change, and they get marginalized as some sort of disease. Oh they can’t help but be gay, so I guess we have to give them rights or something…
Instead of, y’know, treating people as if we all have inherent value as individuals no matter who we love or what we are or something crazy like that?
i need to hug this woman
Wow. I’m really glad someone is actually saying this, because right now it seems like the only mainstream narrative...
Bi erasure is my favorite thing! /sarcasm
Bisexuals aren’t real, remember? *rolls eyes*