Cynthia Nixon Unveils 'Unqualified Lesbian' Campaign Buttons

NEW YORK, NY — "Unqualified lesbian" may be the new "nasty woman." Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon is selling buttons emblazoned with the insult hurled at her last week to raise money for her nascent primary campaign against Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The "Sex and the City" actress and education advocate, who is married to a woman, unveiled the $5 buttons, available in blue and white, a week to the day after former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn — a Cuomo ally who is herself a lesbian — called Nixon an "unqualified lesbian" in an interview with the New York Post.

Nixon seemed to embrace the invective in jest, saying on her campaign Instagram page that the phrase is an "oxymoron." "Unqualified lesbian" T-shirts are also in the works, her campaign said on Twitter.

"Cynthia was called an 'unqualified lesbian.' In her defense, there’s a lot of paperwork required," her campaign tweeted Tuesday.

The buttons are reminiscent of the T-shirts, buttons and other items that sprung up after then-candidate Donald Trump called Hillary Clinton a "nasty woman" during a 2016 presidential debate. The phrase became a sort of rallying cry for Clinton supporters and liberal activists before and after Trump was elected president that year.

Quinn threw the new epithet at Nixon in recalling how she opposed the former councilwoman's 2013 candidacy for mayor. Nixon is an ally of Mayor Bill de Blasio, who defeated Quinn that year.

Quinn drew fire for the remark but later walked it back on Twitter, saying Nixon's "identity has no bearing on her candidacy." She also praised Cuomo in the Post interview for raising the state's minimum wage to $15 and opposing fracking.

Quinn isn't the only Cuomo ally who's slammed Nixon's political inexperience. Jefrey Pollock, a pollster for the second-term governor, told The New York Times last week that Democratic voters "are looking for proven experience to take the fight to Donald Trump and to Republicans across the state."

Cuomo and Nixon will face off in the Democratic primary for governor in September.

(Lead image: Cynthia Nixon speaks at a March 20, 2018 rally launching her candidacy for New York governor. Photo by Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press)