'SATC' star honoured to be gay role model

Cynthia Nixon has received an award for being a role model for young gay people.

The Sex And The City star was praised for "living her life open" by the Point Foundation, which provides scholarships to gay students in the US.

Nixon, who accepted the gong in front of her castmates from the hit show, said: "When you're a young gay person, you yearn for nothing so much as the presence of other gay people - most especially, an older generation of gay people who can encourage and inspire you."

She has been dating education activist Christine Marinoni since 2003 after ending her 15-year relationship with Danny Mozes, the father of her two children.

Referring to her time with Mozes, she joked: "That is part of what I look back on now as my straight period."

Co-star Sarah Jessica Parker said: "The way she lives her life is good work. She leads by example."

> Nixon opens up about lesbian lover