 / Updated By Brooke Sopelsa 
 
 Former New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who made an unsuccessful bid for mayor in 2013, slammed Cynthia Nixon a day after the “Sex and the City” actress announced her candidacy for New York governor. “Cynthia Nixon was opposed to having a qualified lesbian become mayor of New York City. Now she wants to be an unqualified lesbian to be the governor of New York,” Quinn said Tuesday in an interview with the New York Post. “Being an actress and celebrity doesn’t make you qualified for public office.” 
 
 Cynthia Nixon and Christine Quinn Gregor Fischer, Brad Barket / EPA/Getty Images 
 
 Nixon, who is married to a woman and has publicly identified as bisexual, endorsed one of Quinn’s mayoral opponents, Bill DeBlasio, in the 2013 Democratic primary for mayor of New York City. Andrew Cuomo, called Cynthia Nixon an “unqualified lesbian” a day after the actress announced she’s going to challenge the governor in a primary. Nixon, according to the New York Post, brushed off Quinn’s remarks, saying, “Her being a lesbian and my being a lesbian” is not the issue. The race, Nixon told the paper, is about “corruption in Albany,” the state’s capital. In an interview with The Post, Quinn also denounced Nixon for endorsing Bill de Blasio over her in the 2013 Democratic primary for mayor. Nixon, a liberal activist and actress, announced her bid for governor on Monday in a video she posted on social media. In the video, Nixon called out the state’s income inequality, New York City’s “broken subway” system and the need to end “mass incarceration."
– Former New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn—who considers herself a "qualified lesbian"—isn't happy about Cynthia Nixon's Democratic primary challenge to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The former Sex and the City star supported rival Bill de Blasio when Quinn ran for mayor in 2013. Nixon "was opposed to having a qualified lesbian become mayor of New York City. Now she wants an unqualified lesbian to be the governor of New York," Quinn told the New York Post in an interview Tuesday. "You have to be qualified and have experience. She isn't qualified to be the governor,” Quinn said, calling Nixon's run a "flight of fancy." Quinn praised Nixon's support for progressive causes, but added: "Being an actress and celebrity doesn’t make you qualified for public office. This is a time to move away from celebrity and toward progressive leadership." In response, Nixon said it was time for an outsider to deal with corruption in Albany. "Her being a lesbian and my being a lesbian" is not the issue, she said. In social media posts after the Post interview ignited controversy, Quinn stressed that she was criticizing Nixon's qualifications, not her identity, NBC reports. "To be clear, Cynthia Nixon's identity has no bearing on her candidacy and it was not my intention to suggest it did," she said.