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Cynthia Nixon Announces Her Engagement at New York Same-Sex Marriage Rally

Film, TV, and theater star Cynthia Nixon announced to the crowd of thousands gathered at Broadway Impact’s Equality rally in New York City on Sunday, May 17, that she is engaged to be married to her partner since 2003, Christine Marinoni.

“I have a secret to tell you,” she told the cheering crowd. “Last month, my girlfriend Christine and I got engaged. And I have a beautiful ring to prove it.”

Nixon went on to call for the right for same-sex couples to get married in New York State, and talked about how Christine is a stay-at-home mom to their children, but has no legal right to them if Nixon dies (the children’s father and Nixon’s former partner, Danny Mozes, is also very involved in parenting them). The rally was organized to encourage the New York State legislature to pass marriage equality legislation before the current session ends on June 20.

After talking about the financial benefits of same-sex marriage to the State of New York, Nixon directed her remarks to the majority of people who oppose gay marriage not for religious reasons, but just because they “haven’t caught up with us yet.”

Now the main argument I hear against legalizing same-sex marriage is that in some way this will forever alter and mar traditional marriage, and what I want to know is: How? How will my girlfriend and I getting married have any affect on you and your wife, or you and your husband sitting at home? I also hear that the right to legal same-sex marriage is seen as an attack on traditional marriage, and I want to say that you are not the ones being attacked, we are.

And please believe I’m not being flippant when I say this: The right to marry is about us, it is not about you, any more than the fight for integration was about white people, or a women’s right to vote was about men. It is only about you to the extent that you have to live with yourself knowing that you are depriving a significant portion of the population their basic civil rights.

Nixon’s Sex and the City co-star Kristin Davis was on stage with Nixon to lend her support, and there were performances, speeches and appearances by actors Audra McDonald, Ana Ortiz, Cheyenne Jackson and David Hyde Piece, as well as New York City Council Member Christine Quinn, State Senator Tom Duane, State Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, and Gov. David Paterson. Nixon is an outspoken advocate for several issues, including gay rights. She recently came under fire from the religious right for supporting Planned Parenthood, and she has spent a good deal of time raising awareness about breast cancer over the last several years (she is a breast cancer survivor).

Professionally, Nixon is busy playing the lead in the Broadway play Distracted, and preparing to reprise her role of Miranda in a sequel to the hugely popular Sex and the City movie.

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