When I wrote about Cynthia Nixon’s remarks last week, that her gayness was a choice, the main thrust of my argument is that people like Cynthia, and the rest of us in the LGBT community, need to tell more of our experience, not less. It was never that anyone was trying to deny Cynthia’s own experience, as some seemed to feel. I’m glad to see that she has indeed told more of her own story to The Advocate:
“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 uninclusive and disempowering. 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. What I have ‘chosen’ is to be in a gay relationship.
“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.
“Our community is not a monolith, thank goodness, any more than America itself is. I look forward to and will continue to work toward the day when America recognizes all of us as full and equal citizens.”
The thing is, when she made her original statement, I got what she was saying, as did most of our readers. Statements like this help, though, because there are many out there who probably didn’t get what she was saying. We on the side of fairness and equality, unlike the Religious Right, always benefit from telling MORE of the truth, not less.
For Wayne’s take on this, where he examines the implications of our ideological opponents misusing our language and our stories against us, click here.
[h/t Joe]
