Masterchef’s Courtney has a girlfriend. But does that make her a lesbian?

So, I’m reading everything I can about Masterchef because I’m not at all obsessed and waddya know, I discover that contestant Courtney Roulston has a girlfriend. I didn’t realise she was gay and it turns out neither did she because she had a boyfriend for seven years prior to meeting Christine who she’s lived with for the past three years.About being a lesbian (or not) Courtney Roulston said this in her interview for Who magazine:

“I didn’t downplay that I’m in a relationship with a woman for any reason other than not wanting to be put in the gay blonde girl bracket.

People can be quick to make an opinion before they know you, so I wanted to let my cooking do the talking.

I’ve been with Christine for three years. We met at soccer. For me, it wasn’t a matter of knowing I was gay – I just met someone I got along with.

I had a boyfriend for seven years and we just didn’t get along. Then I was single for two years and then I met Christine, who’s six months younger.

She’s my first girlfriend, but a relationship is about a person who you get along with and have fun with. I don’t fit the gay stereotype. If things didn’t work out, I won’t say I wouldn’t get a boyfriend.”

I found what Courntey says so interesting on so many levels. I’m of the belief that being gay is not a choice or a lifestyle decision.

I believe you’re born that way. But I also believe that sometimes, for some people, you can fall in love with a person not a gender. How else to explain love stories like Courtney’s? Or Cynthia Nixon who had two children with her male partner and a lifetime of hetrosexuality before she met her current female partner?

Does one relationship have the power to label you? Are women like Courtney and Cynthia lesbians or are they just in love with individuals who also happen to be women?

There are no conclusive answers to these questions but I do find it fascinating to mull them over…..

Can you put sexuality in a box and mark it conclusively? Forever?