We already know that Bravo's Real Housewives series has blown the lid off our old perceptions of what an American homemaker should look like. That is, of course, partly because almost none of its cast members are homemakers at all. Some aren't even married, and it doesn't matter, because these days being a “housewife” is more so about arguing with other women, using the word “drama” and “bitch” a lot, being “over it,” then smack talking your neighbors in on-camera interviews.

But a new addition to the OC Housewives clan is shaking things up a bit. Fernanda Rocha is not married, nor can she be legally since she's a lesbian – the first openly-gay Housewife to grace Bravo screens. On last night's episode, she posed topless with OC alum Tamra Barney for the NoH8 campaign, and she recently appeared at The Dinah, Palm Spring's biggest “girl party.” So Rocha's not just out, she's about.

We spoke briefly with Rocha to get her take on how she fits into the OC Housewives spectrum:

LA Weekly: Some sources say you're a lesbian, others say you're bisexual. What do you say?

Fernanda Rocha: I know who I am, and all I can say is that I have a vision to have a family with a woman, to have a bambino with a wife. My ex lover, we were together for almost 6 years, and this is who I am. Yes, I was married to a man, it's a long story there but I do know who I am today.

What people talk, their opinions, I can't control that.

So you're not interested in labels?

I try to not label anyone or anything in life, because I think it's about love and friends and who we are. But I do see myself with a woman. So that's how I see it.

But you took issue with Housewives Kim Zolciak from Atlanta and Danielle Staub from New Jersey for having relationships with women, saying they each had a “faux lesbian experimental stage and that they weren't “the real thing.” Why was that?

Let me clarify that. I never answered that way. Those words didn't come out of my mouth. They asked me what I thought about them being involved with a woman, and I sad I think it was an experience. Trying something new.

In other words, you respect their right to experiment?

Yeah, they're choosing…they are who they are. I don't think they're lesbian or gay, I think they're trying to have fun and, you know, have a moment, and I respect what they do.

Do you feel an obligation to be an LGBT activist now that you're on TV?

No, not at all. I think I'm comfortable in expressing myself, and being out, and I just hope that the message, and being out there, that people can truly see this. What I'm trying to do. We should all be who we are, and at the end of the day, we all have pain. It's about love. I believe we all deserve to love and be loved.

What can we expect to see from you character this season?

I don't know the storyline – I don't really control that. During my shootings, I did show my lifestyle, what I was going through. I was going through a breakup – you know, my ex relationship – I was expressing how hard that was for me. And I have interactions with the girls, I was getting to know them. Tamra was the one that I knew longer. You see a little bit of everything, a lot of emotion. Happiness, sadness, fears, everything.

It seems like you and Tamra have a pretty flirtatious relationship.

[Laughs.] We have a good connection. That's all I can say.

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