Issue date: 5/27/08 Section: Columns

You may have heard of him. His name is Patrick Barbieri. And he hates a (former) woman who is pregnant. This scenario is disturbing in so many ways. Where to even begin?

Let's start with his attack on Thomas Beatie for his decision to make a sex change, but preserve the ability to have a child. I ask what is worse; that Beatie decided to do this, or that we live in a country where two people who love each other and want to raise a child together have to undergo a sex change for the same legal protection as other couples? What part of going to a child's baseball game, telling them you love them, teaching them, disciplining them and supporting them in all their efforts requires having a penis or vagina?

Show me 100% absolute proof that two people of the same gender are incapable of loving each other. In the meantime, I'll keep snickering about the breakups in the tabloids and the nasty, bitter divorces that happen because people think the only thing that makes a healthy couple is having sex. Go back and read "Still Waiting for your Prince Charming?" from Tues, May 13th. Then read "The denial of same-sex marriage is unconstitutional" from Wed, May 21st.

But my loathing for Barbieri's decision to write this way goes much deeper than mere legality.

What health risks do being born to a transgender man pose to a baby? He has a a hormonal tug-of-war, sure, but so does everyone else. Men and women both have estrogen and testosterone in them, to varying degrees, and women sometimes get medications to stave off their own natural cycles. Also, pregnancy is hard on anyone's body, and it's only normal to require medical assistance no matter who you are.

Barbieri is so self-absorbed with his own "moral superiority" that he fails to see the implications they will have on how he treats other human beings. How many normal couples have problems? How many people have children who are drug addicts, breaking up, or embroiled in an abusive relationship? Is it more ethical to raise a child under those circumstances than in a loving, same-sex family?

My utter disgust toward Barbieri's article wouldn't be so vehement if not for the fact that he is expressing the same sort of hate-speech which we have seen plenty of in our lifetimes. Remember interracial marriage? Remember women's rights? Remember slavery? Remember Hitler? Remember Native Americans? Remember Iraq, with the Sunnis fighting the Shiites?

Sadly, however, I think nothing will prevent folks like Barbieri from hating other people, just because they're different. Just what did he ever do to you, anyway? Did he cut you off in traffic? Did he steal your wallet? Or is he just another person out there, just like the rest of us, who made a choice he believes is the right choice to make for his family?



Diana Watkins is a graphic communication junior and a guest columnist for the Mustang Daily.

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