Thursday 2 August 2007

The Infinite

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.
- Albert Einstein

And that brings me to VoteYesMarriage.com, The Voters' Right to Protect Marriage Initiative.

Only marriage between one man and one woman is valid or recognized in California, whether contracted in this state or elsewhere. A man is an adult male human being who possesses at least one inherited Y chromosome, and a woman is an adult female human being who does not possess an inherited Y chromosome. Neither the Legislature nor any court, government institution, government agency, initiative statute, local government, or government official shall abolish the civil institution of marriage between one man and one woman, or decrease statutory rights, incidents, or employee benefits of marriage shared by one man and one woman, or require private entities to offer or provide rights, incidents, or benefits of marriage to unmarried individuals, or bestow statutory rights, incidents, or employee benefits of marriage on unmarried individuals. Any public act, record, or judicial proceeding, from within this state or another jurisdiction, that violates this section is void and unenforceable.

So what do we do now - require Karyotypes before marriage? Any woman, even if she's a biological mother, who has any amount of 46xy or 47xxy chromosomes is now male. And any man, even a biological father with a translocated Sry complex and 46xx chromosomes is now a woman.

Not forgetting the common-or-garden 46xx or 46xy post-operative transsexuals, of course.

Or maybe not : maybe this means that a large number of people - in fact, pretty much anyone whose body does not match their chromosomes, are now neither a Man nor a Woman, and so are to be denied the human right of marriage to anyone, not even "one of their own kind". A male adult human being who is not a man. A female adult human being who is not a woman.

No matter if any of the above have been married for years in another jurisdiction, now their marriage is to be invalid in California.

Many people affected by this - and quite possibly some of those most in favour of it - could be Intersexed and not know it.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bear in mind that basic biology classes generally cover XX, XY, and possibly XYY, and that's about it. Whoever wrote that probably--almost certainly--doesn't realize there are other possibilities to worry about, and doesn't know that brain may not match body. Everyone's ignorant on something, and if you don't know you're ignorant, you don't have any reason to do research.
--Laser

Autumn Sandeen said...

Just looking at the list of intersex conditions on the ISNA's list of intersex conditions is mind-boggling.

It's truly mind-boggling that these conservative Christian non-scientists behind the initiative -- who know only the barest amount of information about chromosomes and genetics -- are attempting to use their misunderstanding of genetics to legally determine people's sexes.

Anonymous said...

It's truly mind-boggling that these conservative Christian non-scientists behind the initiative

Why is it mind-boggling to you? You happen to know more about the topic because you've had reason to look into it, but the vast majority of people do not have a reason. It's like complaining about people who never heard of relativity--okay, their Newtonian physics is incomplete but it's still correct for 99.99% of the situations they run across.

--Laserlight