Plus Ça Change

Gustav Mahler was born a Jew in Vienna in 1860. Having written symphonies and other important musical works, and acted as a conductor, he was appointed director of the Vienna Court Opera – assuming he would convert to Christianity in order to gain the post, since no Jew would be so appointed. He did. But despite his conversion he continued to receive abuse at the hands of an antisemitic press. And for similar reasons his music was banned by the Nazis. He was born a Jew and would always be a Jew.

Louis Armstrong, another musician, always claimed that he was born on the fourth of July in 1900. That, however, was primarily a publicity ploy. He was born on August 4, 1901, and the fourth of August would forever be his birthday, whether he celebrated it then or not.

People change their names, religions, and other defining features, often for professional reasons. Those causes are external. However they may feel about the changes, they're advantageous when it comes to dealing with the world around them. (And sometimes they're even pleased with them.)

But there are internal causes as well. More and more cases are arising of individuals not satisfied with their “birth sex” (they prefer to call it “gender” which is really a linguistic term, but many of them feel that the language is biased against them) as dictated by their genetic makeup, and duly recorded on their birth certificates. There are several ways of dealing with this dissatisfaction, but I will only raise one of them at this time (there'll be another a little later). It is the response of some who believe that their anatomy doesn't accurately reflect who they “are.” They are really members of the opposite sex. And they demand to be treated as members of that other sex.

The implication of this view most obvious to others is that the dissatisfied ones may seek to use the public toilets assigned to the sex of their choice. Although some jurisdictions have tried to limit toilet use to those whose birth certificates attest to membership in the group for whom the facility was designed and designated, the courts have tended to yield to the feelings of the afflicted or confused – a small “oppressed” minority with a discrepancy between their psychology and their chromosomes. The feelings of the majority are not relevant, nor have they the right to object (although it is undeniable that some “straight” people do accept their views). What is written on the birth certificates is not dispositive.

But why does society limit personal preference to sex alone? Actually we don't. We allow people to change their names and “divorce” their parents, so it would make sense to allow all those interested to alter their birth certificates to reflect desired places of birth, preferred dates of birth (which means their age), their parents, race, religion, doctor, and anything else that might appear on the certificate but wasn't consonant with their feelings. Because those feelings – their psychological needs – are of greater significance than reality. And if a thirty year-old considers himself fit for the presidency, shouldn't he be allowed to run – even if he wasn't born in this country? But the implications of such changes would be extensive, like those of sex changes, and would involve both the economy, detrimentally, and the legal profession, most positively.

Indeed, why should we limit those changes to birth certificates? Why can't we decide, if we so choose, that we're minority members, and entitled to the benefits of Affirmative Action; why can't we hold that our IQs are higher than what may be measured, or that we're qualified for a particular position because it is our belief that we are – and the refusal of that position is a challenge to our rights; why don't our passports, or our marriage licenses, or our credit reports, or, for that matter, our mortgages, contain the information we feel they should have? Why shouldn't others be obligated to accept our views? What's so great about reality that it should take precedence over what we feel or what we want?

But though you may alter and adjust matters more to your liking, you haven't really changed anything. Your “corrections,” alas, are irrelevant.

Even so, the choice of sex will remain while other choices will be denied. A ten-year-old who reads the newspapers and feels mature enough to vote will neither be able to change the state law that prescribes a higher lower limit, nor adjust his birth certificate to indicate a different birth date. There are vogues and prejudices that govern our behavior, and that's not one of them.

But vogues are not reality. Someone born with XX sex chromosomes is female; someone with XY is male. Period. All the rest is psychology and feelings. Albin Mougeotte (in La Cage aux Folles) had a healthier and more down-to-earth approach: "I Am What I Am." It is an acceptence of reality with a “rest-of-the-world-can-take-it-or-leave-it” attitude. Procaiming it proudly and loudly he doesn't require that others change their ways, but he has no hesitation about living his life as he sees fit. There's no need to revise their views or anything else.

If, however, society, with the imprimatur of the courts, decides that it is legitimate (and privileged) to alter what it says on a birth certificate and reinvent yourself, it's hard to justify limiting that “right” to sex, although it's hard to deny that our society is preoccupied with sex and our courts preoccupied with “rights,” actual or what it considers desirable. But it seems more logical to recognize reality and deal with it than bend to the winds of culture-war. Perhaps you believe in miracles. Perhaps you believe that “wishing will make it so.” But it won't, and you might as well get used to that truth.

Mahler was Jewish. And attempts to change that reality may have provided some benefits, but they came with damage as well – some in his lifetime and some after Mahler died. Some to him, and some to other Jews. The implications of an act often outweigh the intent of the act.  What is, is. The more things change, the more some of them change while others remain the same.