Backlash over Cynthia Nixon's 'choice' gay remark

"Sex and the City" co-star Cynthia Nixon has sparked a backlash after saying that being gay is a choice.

Nixon, 45, whose fiancee, Christine Marinoni, is the mother of their nearly 1-year-old son Max, told The New York Times Magazine on Sunday that "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."

Nixon "needs to learn how to choose her words better, because she just fell into a right-wing trap, willingly," wrote gay blogger John Aravosis at AmericaBlog.com. "When the religious right says it's a choice, they mean you quite literally choose your sexual orientation, you can change it at will, and that's bull."

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton wrote on his own site, "It wasn't a choice for us. We were BORN gay. And millions of gay people around the world feel the same way."

Before her relationship with Marinoni, Nixon was in a 15-year relationship with college sweetheart Danny Mozes. Nixon and Mozes, who broke up in 2003, have two children together.

The actress, who opens Thursday in a Broadway revival of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Wit," has not responded to the comments.

In her defense, the gay actor-playwright Harvey Fierstein told Newsday: "If Cynthia Nixon feels the best way to express her own journey -- and it has to be your own personal journey -- is to say, 'I am a lesbian by choice,' then God bless her. It takes nothing away from me."

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