“Let me be clear, you don’t choose your sexuality,” Miley Cyrus wrote Tuesday after facing backlash for comments made in an Instagram Live over the weekend. “You are born as you are”

Miley Cyrus is thanking her new man, Cody Simpson, for helping her fall in love again — and addressing backlash to comments she made on the topic.

On Sunday, the “Slide Away” singer went live on Instagram with Simpson, 22, and spoke fondly about her blossoming relationship with the Australian singer while seemingly shading estranged husband Liam Hemsworth.

“I was just being like, I don’t know, hardcore feminist vibes and just not allowing anyone in,” Cyrus, 26, explained, before telling her followers, “There are good men out there guys, don’t give up.”

“You don’t have to be gay,” she added as Simpson used the heart eye filter on his screen.

“There are good people with d— out there, you just gotta find them. You gotta find a d— that’s not a d—, you know what I mean?”

After the Australian singer laughed at Cyrus’ comment, she continued, “I know, I thought I had to be gay because all guys are evil, but it’s not true. There are good people out there that happen to have d—.”

“I only ever met one, and he’s on this live,” she added, referring to Simpson, who smiled at her comment.

Cyrus’ comments quickly drew the ire of the LGBTQ community, who took issue with the singer’s remark that people “don’t have to be gay.”

Cyrus clarified her comment on Twitter Monday, writing, “I was talking s— about sucky guys, but let me be clear, YOU don’t CHOOSE your sexuality. You are born as you are. It has always been my priority to protect the LGBTQ community I am a part of.”

Miley Cyrus’ tweet. MILEY CYRUS / TWITTER

Although the musicians’ relationship may be new, Cyrus and Simpson were friends for years before romance bloomed.

“It is early, but their friendship is long-standing and deeper than people realize,” Simpson’s manager Matt Zeidman told PEOPLE exclusively in a statement last week. “Though they originally met during their own wilder phases, they’re both sober now and are focused on health, work and spending time together. Seems pretty ideal to me.”

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The pair were first spotted on a breakfast date earlier this month, shortly after Cyrus split from influencer Kaitlynn Carter following her separation from Hemsworth, who was recently photographed kissing actress Maddison Brown.

On Friday, Simpson debuted his new song, “Golden Hour.” Throwing her full support behind the track, Cyrus shared a photo of the album artwork — which is a close-up shot of her hair and neck — writing “my heart” alongside a black heart emoji.

Simpson recently revealed that Cyrus encouraged him to release the song.

She was like, ‘If you don’t put this s— out, I’m putting it out on your behalf for you.

I’m getting your Spotify login and doing this s— myself,’” he said of the song, which he wrote while she was still recovering from tonsillitis.

“I’m very happy. We are very, very happy,” Simpson added. “We just have a ball, yeah, and that’s the most important part of a relationship, you know?”