Cara Delevingne: "My sexuality is not a phase. I am who I am.”

In a recent New York Times profile, Cara Delevingne responded to the backlash she faced after a Vogue profile claimed her bisexuality was just a "phase," and said that, although, she found the online petition that made it's way online against the Vogue article "flattering," she saw "nothing malicious" in the piece. She went on to say, “My sexuality is not a phase. I am who I am.”

The article Delevingne was responding to is in the July issue of Vogue, where she opened up about her early struggles with her sexuality and about her relationships with both men and women. She openly discussed her current relationship with indie rock singer, St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark). 

 

Pyrrhic victory!!!!!!

A photo posted by St. Vincent (@st_vincent) on

Jun 16, 2015 at 8:49am PDT

In Vogue, Delevingne revealed that she had struggles with depression and it was because of her relationship with St.Vincent that she was so happy: 

“I think that being in love with my girlfriend is a big part of why I’m feeling so happy with who I am these days. And for those words to come out of my mouth is actually a miracle.”

The duo are literally #RelationshipGoals, but after the publication of the Vogue article, many fans online expressed frustration with the author of the Vogue profile because the writer, Rob Haskell, stated that Delevingne's parents believed that her bisexuality is just a "phase." Plus, how offensive is that to St.Vincent, her girlfriend, who she clearly said she is in love with? Why call her "sexuality" a phase in the face of someone who just said they were in love with someone of the same sex? 

Fans were so frustrated that one particular fan went and started an online petition called, "Tell Vogue Magazine: Being LGBT Isn't a "Phase!" The petition got more than 20,000 signatures. Julie Rodriguez, the woman who started the online petition, told PRIDE that the reason she started the petition was because:

"These quotes are statements that any bisexual or lesbian woman will encounter at some point in her life, especially when first coming out. There's a very prevalent idea out there that queer women are just "confused" or "curious" or "going through a phase" — basically, that bisexual and lesbian women are actually straight, and will eventually settle down with a man, putting their attraction to women behind them. This attitude is really harmful for a few reasons: one is that people use these kinds of statements to justify treating queer women's relationships as lesser than straight relationships, as if they're not "real" and don't need to be taken seriously. But it can also be very dangerous for young women to come out to conservative or very religious parents — if their families have heard that sexual orientation can be changed, they might subject their daughter to abusive conversion therapy or leave their child homeless on the street for their "choice" to be lesbian or bisexual."

Delevingne told Vogue about her sexuality: “It took me a long time to accept the idea, until I first fell in love with a girl at 20 and recognized that I had to accept it."

Seriously, though, St. Vincent and Cara are so cute together, and as Cara herself says, "My sexuality is not a phase." 

 

Roskilde version of "Where's Waldo?" #where'swallyifyoureBritish by @kotokotooto

A photo posted by St. Vincent (@st_vincent) on

Jul 4, 2015 at 12:11am PDT