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Alexandra
Delgado
I never met
Alexandra Delgado. Alexandra, for whatever reason, has been converted into
something more than a symbol of her own struggle to be "normal"
and live an "ordinary" life. You may have read about her story
in passing, you may have lingered over it, as many of us have, or you may
have just ignored it. Born with the genitalia of a male, Alexandra, from
an early age has known she is female. "From the time I can remember,
I have always felt like a woman", she said recently.
Alexandra’s
life-long dream, since she was eight years old, has been to medically
adjust the physical to match the spirit, which she accomplished with her
operation in 2003 at the age of 34.
Now,
ironically, adjusting her birth certificate, a mere piece of paper, to
match the now harmonized physical and spiritual is proving to be one of
the more difficult steps in her transformation towards "normality,"
as she thinks of it.
The Puerto
Rican Supreme Court, ignoring its own precedent, last week handed
Alexandra a resounding "no" to her request for total harmony.
Alexandra was shocked when they denied her request, especially because the
Supreme Court had, years ago, granted a similar request for exactly such a
change under almost identical circumstances.
Top among the
court’s reasons for denying Alexandra’s request was its absurd,
institutional paranoia that Alexandra would now marry a man and thereby
violate the Civil Code which defines marriage as a union between a man and
a woman.
Now comes
Magaly Meléndez, a 31 year old woman. Her birth certificate says she is
Héctor Luis Meléndez, a man. She had her sex reassigned surgically in
México in 1996. Magaly wants to marry a womanthe love of her life.
There is no reason for her not to marry her fiancé.
Yet, she says
that she completely understands the struggles that Alexandra Delgado
suffers. Traveling through airports is a humiliation. Ever since the
changes of 9/11, she is forced to explain and sometimes "prove"
who she is. She feels trapped in an antiquated system that does not change
as scientific advances alter the world.
I am not
worried about either of these women. They are strong as oaks. They
symbolize every little boy and little girl of every color, class, and
nationality who has refused to bury their spirit, choosing instead to
follow their heart even when everyone is telling them they are wrong.
I worry more
about your children and the children and grandchildren of our Supreme
Court Justices and whether we will have the courage to create a climate
where they are free to follow their spirit.
I worry about
kids growing up in a Republican Party dominated world where they must
choose between left or right because all the other directions are
forbidden by the Law of the Land.
One Very Well
Written Sentence From the Sunday Portland Oregonian:
"Other
than telling us how to live, think, marry, pray, vote, invest, educate
our children and, now, die, I think the Republicans have done a fine job
of getting government out of our personal lives."
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Los
Martes de Enkidu
