評論
打印
"Even in purely non-religious terms,
“就算拋開宗教信仰的因素，
homosexuality represents a misuse of the sexual faculty.
同性戀也是性濫交的代名詞
It is a pathetic little second-rate substitute for reality --
它是可悲的，次等的，一種現實的替代品
a pitiable flight from life.
是人生中一段令人遺憾的旅程
As such, it deserves no compassion,
因此，同性戀不值得同情
it deserves no treatment
也不值得治療
as minority martyrdom,
因為只有少數人為此受難
and it deserves not to be deemed anything but a pernicious sickness."
同性戀只值得視為一種有害的疾病"
That's from Time magazine in 1966, when I was three years old.
上述的話選自1966年發行的 《時代》雜志，那時我只有三歲.
And last year, the president of the United States
但是就在去年，美國總統
came out in favor of gay marriage.
站出來表示支持同性戀婚姻
And my question is, how did we get from there to here?
我的問題是，我們是如何實現這種態度的轉變？
How did an illness become an identity?
曾經的疾病是如何成為現在的一種身份認同？
When I was perhaps six years old,
當我差不多六歲的時候
I went to a shoe store with my mother and my brother.
我和媽媽還有弟弟去一家鞋店
And at the end of buying our shoes,
最后，當我們付款買鞋子的時候
the salesman said to us that we could each have a balloon to take home.
售貨員告訴我們，我們每個人可以挑選一個氣球帶回家
My brother wanted a red balloon, and I wanted a pink balloon.
我的弟弟想要一個紅色的氣球，我想要粉色的氣球
My mother said that she thought I'd really rather have a blue balloon.
而我的母親說她覺得我應該選一個藍色的氣球
But I said that I definitely wanted the pink one.
但是我說我想要的毫無疑問是粉色的氣球
And she reminded me that my favorite color was blue.
她提醒我，我最喜歡的顏色是藍色
The fact that my favorite color now is blue, but I'm still gay --
其結果是，我現在最喜歡的顏色是藍色，但我依舊是個同性戀者
is evidence of both my mother's influence and its limits.
這既反應了母親對孩子的影響，也反應了這其中的局限性
When I was little, my mother used to say,
當我很小的時候，母親曾經說過
"The love you have for your children is like no other feeling in the world.
"父母對子女的愛是世界上，其它一切感情都無法比擬的，
And until you have children, you don't know what it's like."
只有當你擁有自己的孩子時，你才能體會到"
And when I was little, I took it as the greatest compliment in the world
我小的時候，把母親講的，關于撫育我和弟弟的這段話
that she would say that about parenting my brother and me.
當成是世界上最高稱贊
And when I was an adolescent, I thought
當我成為一個青少年的時候，我想
that I'm gay, and so I probably can't have a family.
我是同性戀，所以我可能不會有自己的家庭
And when she said it, it made me anxious.
當母親說那些話的時候，我就會感到很焦慮
And after I came out of the closet,
當我的事公之于眾后,
when she continued to say it, it made me furious.
母親還重提此事，我感到很惱火
I said, "I'm gay. That's not the direction that I'm headed in.
我說：“我是同性戀。我不會走那條路。
And I want you to stop saying that."
我希望你不要再說那些話了。”
About 20 years ago, I was asked by my editors at The New York Times Magazine
大約二十年前， 《紐約時報》主編讓我
to write a piece about deaf culture.
寫一篇關于聾人文化的文章
And I was rather taken aback.
我感到很驚訝
I had thought of deafness entirely as an illness.
我原以為耳聾就是一種疾病
Those poor people, they couldn't hear.
那些可憐的人呀，他們什么都聽不見
They lacked hearing, and what could we do for them?
如果他們聽不見，我們能為他們做什么呢？
And then I went out into the deaf world.
接下來，我走進了聾人世界
I went to deaf clubs.
我去了聾人俱樂部
I saw performances of deaf theater and of deaf poetry.
觀看了聾人的表演
I even went to the Miss Deaf America contest in Nashville, Tennessee
我甚至去了田納西州納什維爾的 “美國聾人小姐”選秀賽
where people complained about that slurry Southern signing.
居然有人抱怨她們甜膩的南方手語“口音”
And as I plunged deeper and deeper into the deaf world,
隨著越來越融入聾人世界
I become convinced that deafness was a culture
我開始相信耳聾是一種文化
and that the people in the deaf world who said,
并且聾人世界中的人也說，
"We don't lack hearing, we have membership in a culture,"
"我們不是聽力不健全，我們是一種文化，"
were saying something that was viable.
這是可行的
It wasn't my culture,
這不是我的文化
and I didn't particularly want to rush off and join it,
我也沒想沖過去加入這種文化
but I appreciated that it was a culture
但我欣賞它是一種文化
and that for the people who were members of it,
對其中的成員而言
it felt as valuable as Latino culture or gay culture or Jewish culture.
它的價值就如同拉美文化，同性戀文化或猶太文化
It felt as valid perhaps even as American culture.
它甚至可以和美國文化相媲美
Then a friend of a friend of mine had a daughter who was a dwarf.
我朋友的朋友有個女兒，是個小矮人
And when her daughter was born,
當她女兒出生的時候
she suddenly found herself confronting questions
她突然發現她要面對很多問題
that now began to seem quite resonant to me.
這些問題使我產生共鳴
She was facing the question of what to do with this child.
她當時面臨的問題是--該如何對待這個孩子？
