Actress Sara Ramirez has described herself as a lifetime ally of gay rights.

The 37-year-old Mexican/Irish-American is the best known for playing Dr. Callie Torres, the wife of pediatric surgeon Arizona Robbins (played by Jessica Capshaw), on the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy.

In an interview with Latina magazine, Torres said she plans to support the LGBT community for a very long time.

“I'm always going to support the LGBT community and equal rights for the LGBT community. That's going to be with me 'till the day I die and beyond. I mean, that's just what it is!”

“I'm always amazed by that [lack] of compassion [from opponents], I really am. But I imagine that those kinds of people that are stuck in that whole thing – that whole train of thought [laughs] – I don't know when they were so hurt that they can't possibly have compassion for someone else in that respect,” Ramirez said.

“To just have the choice – that's what it always comes back to. You really want to take someone's choice away? You don't want them to have the choice to build that life for themselves in the way they choose to? And that's really disappointing.”