Highlights from top talk: Jan 30

As part of our regular installment of the best of opinion from around the web, we read everything, and this week, we’ve been reading a lot of reaction to ‘Sex and the City’ star Cynthia Nixon’s comments on her view that she’s chosen to be gay.

“But again, that doesn’t mean that women find the idea of sex with other women repugnant, but then suddenly say ‘hey, maybe it would help my career if I dated another chick,’ so they ‘choose’ to find other women really hot sexually, and voila!, they now DO find other women really hot sexually. It doesn’t work that way. In the same way you don’t choose to prefer blondes over brunettes, or even choose what kind of sex you enjoy once in you’re in the sack. It’s the way you’re wired, it’s not a choice.” – John Aravosis in AmericaBlog gay.

“I am not “fluid” in my sexuality, and neither are most of my lesbian friends. But I do know some women and men who identify as gay or lesbian who have changed back and forth in their identity, and sometimes identify as bisexual. Why should it matter what we call ourselves? If the haters don’t give a hoot about why or how we got this way, we should never try to limit who gets to fit into our community.” – Tracy Baim in the Huffington Post.

“I honestly have no idea if I was born this way. My memory doesn’t stretch to the crib. But I know that from the moment I felt romantic stirrings, it was Timmy, not Tammy, who could have me walking on air or wallowing in torch songs and tubs of ice cream. These feelings gelled early, and my considerable fear of society’s censure was no match for them.” – Frank Bruni in the New York Times.

Whether you think you were born this way or not, there are lots of strong opinions out there on what Nixon said, and she’s certainly courted a different spotlight than ever before.

Meanwhile there were other things going on this week as well!

“‘We were behind about 2-1 in the polls.’ Hannaford, who was gay but not out then—this is 1978—said, ‘He’s not going to come out against it. The best we can hope for is that he’ll stay neutral.’ This is after Reagan had run in 1976 and narrowly lost to Ford and was gearing up to run in 1980. Well, after the meeting, Reagan told these guys, ‘I’m going to come out against it,’ and he did. He wrote an op-ed and the polls flipped.’” – Karen Ocamb “Why Fred Karger Isn’t Just Tilting at Windmills” in Frontiers Magazine.

“‘he fact of the matter is, I think people would have been happy to have a referendum on civil rights rather than fighting and dying in the streets in the South,’ the Republican governor said on January 24. History disagrees.” – Duncan Osborne “Christie Doesn’t Like Ike” in Gay City News.

“Why would he say that? Why was I less than satisfied with the speech? Because Indiana was completely left out of the picture. According to that speech, Hoosiers just don’t exist. While other state’s marriage amendment battles were highlighted, Indiana’s was left out.” – Bil Browning “The State of the Movement (But Not All the States)” at the Bilerico Project.

“The idea that in 2012 we will be voting on the civil rights of any group at the ballot box is astonishing because of its blindness to our state’s history of discrimination — and the fight to beat it back.” – Pam Spaulding “My letter to the editor: intersection – the NC marriage discrimination amendment and social justice” at Pam’s House Blend.