In fact, anatomy and genetics are only two of the various ways we classify human beings into genders. How people dress, the jobs they do, how they talk, how they drink, how the laugh, how they think of themselves, and the role they play in all kinds of relationships--sexual, reproductive, and otherwise--all are part of the classification. Many individuals are far from the prototype of a man or of a woman, and indeed, some are so far from both that there really is no correct binary classification for them that takes into account everything in our human conception of gender.

I think that the greater openness we see today about things sexual, coupled with all the enhanced technological possibilities, is bound to move things in the direction of greater equality of gender-based legal rights and obligations. Openness alone has already done this to a fair extent, but cases like this one inevitably will go even further.

We see a very similar process happening in the area of race, as greater freedom in the choice of partner is blurring the boundaries in that domain.

I am hoping that as boundaries blur, traditional forms of discrimination that presuppose them will fade away. Time will tell.

Greg Shenaut