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deeplezstonerchic:

feminision:

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.”
Read the Entire Article on Huffington Post

PREACH

fuck yeah! i, for one, am really choosing to be a homosexual, and i really am enjoying the choice!

i agree wholeheartedly! and i think this is a particularly salient point:
“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 actually think the whole argument of whether being gay/queer/etc. is a choice is really dangerous one. it takes our agency away as queers (like “oh we can’t help it, we were born this way! oh noes!”) and it also plays into the model of biological determinism that dominant (heteropatriarchal) society is based on. and it takes us away from the very important point which is that people should be able to love & fuck who they want, for whatever reason they want, whether they think that reason is innate or a choice or something else entirely.
also, cynthia nixon is awesome.

I read this article this morning and gave it a hearty, “Fuck yes!”
Of course, so many queers believe that there was never any choice for them, and there’s no inherent problem with that, but it shouldn’t count for ALL queerness. As Nixon says in the article, “…you don’t get to define my gayness for me.”
For me, what is problematic about the “born this way” rhetoric is that it bends to the notion of heterosexual superiority. Meaning, queers shouldn’t be considered adversaries, but we are to be pitied or given the charity of heterosexual “tolerance” for the misfortune of being born with the this affliction. If we could choose, wouldn’t we, of course, choose to be straight?
I’m not interested in the dominant (heterosexual) culture’s approval, but in defining and living my queerness without interference. Great article.

deeplezstonerchic:

feminision:

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.”

Read the Entire Article on Huffington Post

PREACH

fuck yeah! i, for one, am really choosing to be a homosexual, and i really am enjoying the choice!

i agree wholeheartedly! and i think this is a particularly salient point:

“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 actually think the whole argument of whether being gay/queer/etc. is a choice is really dangerous one. it takes our agency away as queers (like “oh we can’t help it, we were born this way! oh noes!”) and it also plays into the model of biological determinism that dominant (heteropatriarchal) society is based on. and it takes us away from the very important point which is that people should be able to love & fuck who they want, for whatever reason they want, whether they think that reason is innate or a choice or something else entirely.

also, cynthia nixon is awesome.

I read this article this morning and gave it a hearty, “Fuck yes!”

Of course, so many queers believe that there was never any choice for them, and there’s no inherent problem with that, but it shouldn’t count for ALL queerness. As Nixon says in the article, “…you don’t get to define my gayness for me.”

For me, what is problematic about the “born this way” rhetoric is that it bends to the notion of heterosexual superiority. Meaning, queers shouldn’t be considered adversaries, but we are to be pitied or given the charity of heterosexual “tolerance” for the misfortune of being born with the this affliction. If we could choose, wouldn’t we, of course, choose to be straight?

I’m not interested in the dominant (heterosexual) culture’s approval, but in defining and living my queerness without interference. Great article.

∞Posted on January 24, 2012

Reblogged from: french pressed.

Source: feminision

Notes: 497 notes

Tags: Cynthia Nixon,choice,queerness,homophobia,agency,