On love

One of the most important books that I've read is Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, which is a deeply moving story of a Greek family’s encounter with twentieth century America. It traces a rampant gene through three generations of the Greek/American Stephanides family, which causes narrator Calliope Stephanides at the age of forty-one to be re-born as a boy (Cal) when he has previously been raised as a girl (Calliope/Callie). Calliope suffers from 5-alpha-reductase deficiency syndrome, where both male and female genitalia are present in a body, one more visible than the other.


What is significant in this novel is that Eugenides shatters the “American Dream” and reprimands its acclaim of being “liberal”.  Although the states tried to uphold certain democratic values, American culture by large is repelled when they hear words like "hermaphrodites," "gay" and "lesbian." 


Last week, North Carolina passed Amendment One, which defined marriage solely as a union between a man and a woman. It really angers me that people are trying to be involved in personal affairs, like who you can love or marry. It's ridiculous that the society is attaching a criminal aspect when two individuals of the same sex happen to fall in love. Maybe you could alleviate those who already feel displaced in their biological gender instead of confining their ability to gain respect? 


There's an ancient myth of metamorphosis about the Navajo society, which included a category of person called "berdache." It is basically someone who adopts a gender other than their biological one. Sex is biological. Gender is cultural. The Navajo understand this. If a person wants to switch her gender, they let her. And they don’t denigrate that person - they honor her.

Love is love. Approving same-sex marriage is not a moral decline of our country– passing the ban is.