評論
打印
What about the other side of this contrast? Sexual orientation.
我們接著談另一個問題：性的取向。
I have a certain sexual orientation.
我有著某種性取向。
What is that?
它是什么呢？
I'm attracted to people of a particular gender. That's true.
我會被某種性別的人吸引，沒錯。
I'm also attracted to people of a particular age range, body type, personality type, certain kinds of senses of humor.
我同時也會被某個年齡段的人吸引，被某種身材、個性的人吸引，別有著某種特定幽默感的人吸引。
All of these things make up my sexual orientation, broadly understood.
凡此種種，組成了我的性取向。這大家都能理解。
But when we talk about sexual orientation, we focus very narrowly on the gender of people that you're attracted to, and then we divide everyone into these nice, neat categories.
但是當人們談到性取向的時候，卻往往聚焦在非常窄的一點上--吸引你的人的性別，然后人們就把所有人輕松地分了類：
There are heterosexual people, and there are homosexual people.
異性戀和同性戀。
Then there are bisexual people, and they mess up our neat categories!
哎呀，怎么冒出個雙性戀來，這不是給我們的分類工作增加難度嘛！
Everywhere I go, people say to me, "I just don't understand bisexuality."
每次我走到什么地方都有人問我："我搞不懂雙性戀這東西？"
Let me take a little time to explain it; it's not a complicated concept, really.
我花點時間解釋幾句，這不是什么復雜的概念。
Some people are attracted to both men and women.
有些人同時被男人和女人吸引。
That's it!
就這么簡單！
It doesn't mean they're attracted to everyone.
這并不意味著他們會見誰愛誰。
That'd be exhausting.
那會累死的。
It doesn't mean they're confused.
這也不意味著他們會搞不清楚自己的情感。
It doesn't mean that gender is not important to them.
也不意味著性別對他們不重要。
It doesn't mean any of those things.
以上都不是。
It just means it's not an overriding factor in what makes people attractive to them.
這僅僅意味著對雙性戀來說，吸引他們的人究竟是男是女，并不是個決定性因素。
And I mention this because many of the same problems faced by gay and lesbian people in our society are faced by bisexual people.
我之所以提到這一點，是因為我們社會中的男女同性戀者常常碰到的問題，雙性戀者也會碰到。
Bisexual people are not half kicked out of the house or half fired from their jobs or half harassed for being bisexual.
雙性戀者不會被"半逐出家門"或者"半解雇"，也不會因為性取向而被"半騷擾"，他們遭受的對待是相同的。
I'm going to be focusing on homosexuality tonight, but much of what I say can be applied with the appropriate changes to bisexuality.
今晚我主要談同性戀的話題，但是我今晚談到的大部分觀點，也都適用于雙性戀。
Finally, in the years that I've been doing this, a number of people have made the comment, at least in the early years, I started doing this in Texas in the early 90's, and people said to me, "You know, your approach seems so negative.
我的工作始于90年代早期的德克薩斯州。在我多年的工作中，特別是近幾年，常會碰到很多人有這樣的說法："你做事的方式似乎有點負面。
You're always talking about the arguments against homosexuality.
你總是討論那些對同性戀的負面論點。
Why don't you ever give an argument in favor of homosexuality?"
為什么從來沒見你提出過支持同性戀的正面論點呢？"
I say, "You know, that's a good idea."
我的回答是：好主意！
So, I want to start with a kind of preliminary argument in favor of homosexuality.
那我就從一個最基礎的支持同性戀的論點開始說起。
Preliminary argument, there's a lot more to be said, but, in a way, the preliminary argument is quite simple:
只是個基本的論點，要說的很多，不過某種程度上說，這個基本的論點也很簡單：
Homosexual relationships make some people happy.
同性戀情感關系能讓一部分人幸福。
