Nixon's Political Correction

That was quick.

In a new interview with The Advocate, actress Cynthia Nixon felt the need to clarify what she meant in an earlier statement reported by the NYT:

For 15 years, until 2003, she was in a relationship with a man. They had two children together. She then formed a new family with a woman, to whom she’s engaged. And she told The Times’s Alex Witchel that homosexuality for her “is a choice.”

“For many people it’s not,” she conceded, but added that they “don’t get to define my gayness for me.” NYT

They may not get to 'define her gayness' for her, but obviously their negative reaction more or less persuaded Nixon to clarify what she really meant to say.

Cynthia Nixon... giving a statement to The Advocate to explain what she meant in the interview -- saying bisexuality is not a choice, but her decision to be in a homosexual relationship is.

"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," Cynthia said.

"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." - Source

Disordered and unstable.

I expect the gay community will be satisfied with that clarification, but I personally think it doesn't change anything - her first statement may have been closer to the truth.  In my opinion, bisexuality by its nature implies choice.  Sexual fluidity results in choice - one chooses to follow his or her attraction.  Concupiscence... lust... perhaps the falling in love with love... aroused by our passions... the feelings and emotions, work together to convince us that we have no choice.  Even when we don't permit ourselves to realize we do.

A friend* sent me a link to a great article on the subject of bisexuality and sexual fluidity which may be helpful in understanding what all of this means in today's political battle for equal rights.

Unstable behaviour.

Sexual orientation is much more accurately thought of in the category of a conditioned (and often variable) preference than a determined biological condition.

Most researchers now accept that sexual orientation (the predominant direction of sexual attraction one feels) is the result of a complex interaction in which nature, nurture and choice all play a part. But whether one acts on those feelings by having same sex relations is actually a matter of personal choice.

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has stated, ‘some people believe that sexual orientation is innate and fixed; however, sexual orientation develops across a person's lifetime’. The APA also says that ‘for some the focus of sexual interest will shift at various points through the life span...’

A report from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health similarly states, ‘For some people, sexual orientation is continuous and fixed throughout their lives. For others, sexual orientation may be fluid and change over time’

And in a recent Huffington Post article, ‘Future Sex: Beyond Gay and Straight’, a leading British gay rights activist, Peter Tatchell, affirms the fluidity of sexual attraction.

So what?

Well, like many, I am getting rather tired of the term ‘homophobic’ being used as an accusatory label to tar anyone who does not accept, approve and celebrate same-sex sexual relationships and believe that homosexual orientation is a biological characteristic like race or sex. 

There are a large and growing number of people (I call them ‘homosceptics’) who neither hate nor fear ‘gay’ people but simply believe that sex outside a lifelong exclusive heterosexual marriage is morally wrong and the fact that we have certain feelings of sexual attraction does not mean that we should therefore act on them. - Read the rest here.

Works for me.

[Editors note:  Sexual fluidity theory is one reason why we are witnessing the rise of gender neutral discussions/policies/influences around the globe in marketing, politics, media and education... even biblical translations.]

*h/t to Raydar.