After actress Cynthia Nixon told The New York Times in January that, for her, being gay was a choice, she faced a harsh backlash from gay activists, for whom the biological inevitability of homosexuality is a key political tenet. In an attempt to clear the air, the former Sex and the City star — who was once married to a man, but now is coupled with a woman, Christine Marinoni — issued a statement to The Advocate. "While I don't often use the word, the technically precise term for my orientation is bisexual," she said. "I believe bisexuality is not a choice, it is a fact. What I have 'chosen' is to be in a gay relationship." Will the backtrack defuse the anger?
The damage is done: Nixon's comments bolstered the idea that sexual orientation is "a choice," says Jessica Grabert at Cinema Blend, a notion that gay rights supporters "have spent countless hours of their own time debunking." And she only made matters worse with a subsequent interview in The Daily Beast complaining that "everyone likes to dump on bisexuals." It was "like watching someone dig themselves a hole and being completely, utterly helpless to stop them." Let's hope she's done explaining now.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
