双语：同性恋是否为天生惹争议

　　That has long been one of the rallying cries of a movement, and sometimes the gist of its argument. Across decades of widespread ostracism, followed by years of patchwork acceptance and, most recently, moments of heady triumph, gay people invoked that phrase to explain why homophobia was unwarranted and discrimination senseless.
　　“同性恋是天生的”，这一说法成为运动的战斗口号由来已久，有时还是论证的主要依据。历经几十年的否认排斥、随后数年的零星认可，以及最近令人兴奋的胜利时刻，“生来如此”这一说法一直被同性恋者用来解释恐同没有任何理论依据，对同性恋的歧视也是毫无意义的。

　　Lady Gaga even spun an anthem from it.
　　Lady GaGa甚至从中得到灵感创作了一首同性恋赞歌。

　　But is it the right mantra to cling to? The best tack to take?
　　然而，这真的是一首值得赞颂的赞歌吗？这就是我们所能采取的最好行动策略吗？

　　Not for the actress Cynthia Nixon, 45, whose comments in The New York Times Magazine last Sunday raised those very questions.
　　对45岁的女演员辛西娅·尼克松（Cynthia Nixon）来说并非如此。她上周日在《纽约时报杂志（New York Times Magazine）》的一番评论引发了对上述两个问题的思考。

　　For 15 years, until 2003, she was in a relationship with a man. They had two children together. She then formed a new family with a woman, to whom she’s engaged. And she told The Times’s Alex Witchel that homosexuality for her “is a choice.”
　　2003年以前的15年中，她都一直和一位男性交往，并且有了2个孩子。后来，她与一位女性订了婚，组建了新的家庭。她还向《时报》的阿列克斯·威切尔（Alex Witchel）坦言，同性恋对她来说是一种“选择”。

　　“For many people it’s not,” she conceded, but added that they “don’t get to define my gayness for me.”
　　她承认“对于很多人来说并不是这样的”，但也补充道，他们“还没开始定义我这种同性恋。”

　　They do get to fume, though. Last week some did. They complained that she represented a minority of those in same-sex relationships and that she had furthermore handed a cudgel to our opponents, who might now cite her professed malleability as they make their case that incentives to change, not equal rights, are what we need.
　　不过，听到她这一席话，有些同性恋者开始愤怒了。其中一些就按捺不住心中的怒火开始抗议。他们抱怨道，她只代表着处于同性关系中的少部分人群，并且她的言论会进一步给那些反同人群以把柄来攻击我们。那些反对者会抓住她所声称的“可选择性”来大做文章，从而振振有词地要求我们改变性向，而不是赋予我们所需要的平等的权利。

　　But while her critics have good reason to worry about how her words will be construed and used, they have no right to demand the kind of silence and conformity from Nixon that gay people have justly rebelled against. She’s entitled to her own truth and manner of expressing it.
　　虽然批评她的人有充分的理由担心她的言论会被曲解和误用，但他们并没有权利因为自己的反对而要求尼克松（Nixon）保持沉默或者遵循他们的意志。她有权利以自己的方式表达真实想法。

　　Besides which, there are problems with some gay advocates’ insistence that homosexuality be discussed and regarded as something ingrained at the first breath.
　　除此之外，一些同性恋支持者对同性恋天生论的坚持是有问题的。

　　By hinging a whole movement on a conclusion that hasn’t been — and perhaps won’t be — scientifically pinpointed and proved beyond all doubt, they hitch it to a moving target. The exact dynamics through which someone winds up gay are “still an open question,” said Clinton Anderson, the director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns Office of the American Psychological Association. “There is substantial evidence of various connections between genes, brain, hormones and sexual identity,” he said. “But those do not amount to a simple picture that A leads to B.”
　　他们通过把整个运动建立在一个尚未（将来可能也不会）被科学毫无疑问地证实的结论上，使运动成了无根之萍。一个人成为同性恋的确切动因“还是个有争议的问题”，美国心理学会男女同性恋、双性者、跨性别关切事务部（Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Concerns Office of the American Psychological Association）主任克林顿·安德森（Clinton Anderson）说，“是有确凿证据可以证明基因、大脑、荷尔蒙和性别自我认同之间有多种多样的联系，但这并不等于一个有甲就导致乙的简单公式。”

　　One landmark study looked at gay men’s brothers and found that 52 percent of identical twin brothers were also gay, in contrast with only 22 percent of nonidentical twin brothers and 11 percent of adoptive, genetically unrelated brothers. Heredity more than environment seemed to be calling the shots.
　　一个具有里程碑意义的研究调查了男同性恋者的兄弟，结果显示同卵双胞胎兄弟中有52%也是同性恋者，相比之下，非同卵双胞胎兄弟和被收养的（没有任何遗传关系的）兄弟中分别只有22%和11%的人也是同性恋者。看起来遗传因素比环境因素起的作用更大。

　　Other research has posited or identified common anatomical and chromosomal traits among gay men or lesbians, and there’s discussion of a gay gene or, rather, set of genes in the mix. The push to isolate it is entwined with the belief that establishing that sexual orientation is like skin color — an immutable matter of biology — will make homophobia as inexcusable as racism and winnow the ranks of haters.
　　其他研究则已经断定或者辨认出男女同性恋者身上共有的解剖学和染色体的特点，并且对同性恋基因或者确切地说是一组与同性恋有关系的基因进行了探讨。对这一问题孤立处理的努力，与认为性倾向可以像皮肤颜色一样被确定为一种稳定的生物特征的信念交织在一起，将使恐同变得像种族歧视一样不可原谅，并把恐同主义者分离出来。

　　But bigotry isn’t rational. Finding a determinative biological quirk, deviation or marker could prompt religious extremists who now want gays in reparative psychotherapy to focus on medical interventions instead. And a person’s absence of agency over his or her concentration of melanin has hardly ended all discrimination against blacks.
　　但这种偏执的行为并不理智。因为寻找一个特定的生物学巧合、偏差或者标志，很可能促使主张对同性恋者进行修复性精神疗法的宗教极端主义者转而主张进行医疗干预疗法。而且，一个人的对黑色素浓度的忽视并不能完全终结对黑人的所有歧视。

　　What’s more, the born-this-way approach carries an unintended implication that the behavior of gays and lesbians needs biological grounding to evade condemnation. Why should it?
　　此外，这种“生来如此”的想法无意中带着一种暗示，即暗示同性恋的行为需要在生物学基础上来规避非难。为什么应该这样呢？

　　Our laws safeguard religious freedom, and that’s not because there’s a Presbyterian, Buddhist or Mormon gene. There’s only a tradition and theology that you elect or decline to follow. But this country has deemed worshiping in a way that feels consonant with who you are to be essential to a person’s humanity. So it’s protected.
　　我们的法律捍卫我们的宗教自由，并不是因为存在着长老教会友基因、佛教徒基因或者摩门教徒基因。只不过有这么一种传统或者神学理论，而你选择或拒绝信仰它。但是，这个国家已经认可，以一种与自我认知相符合的方式来进行敬奉，对于一个人的人性是十分重要的。因此宗教自由受到保护。

　　Our laws also safeguard the right to bear arms: not exactly a biological imperative.
　　我们的法律也保护持有枪械的权利：这也不完全是出于生物学上的需要。

　　Among adults, the right to love whom you’re moved to love — and to express it through sex and maybe, yes, marriage — is surely as vital to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as a Glock. And it’s a lot less likely to cause injury, if that’s a deciding factor: how a person’s actions affect the community around him or her.
　　对成年人来说，去爱打动了你的爱人的权利，并通过性爱或者婚姻，来表达你的爱——这种权利就如同格洛克手枪一样，对捍卫生命、自由以及对幸福的追求至关重要。而且这种权利（比起枪械来说）几乎不会构成危害，如果把一个人的行为对周边社区的影响也算作一种决定性因素的话。（注：格洛克（Glock），专产手枪的奥地利著名枪械公司。美国宪法保障私人持有枪械的权利，而格洛克手枪是最常见的一种私人枪械，美国销量第一的枪支是Glock19。）

　　I USE the words “moved to love” in an effort to define the significant, important territory between “born this way” and choice. That solid ground covers “built this way,” “oriented this way,” and “evolved this way”; it incorporates the possibility of a potent biological predisposition mingling with other factors beyond anyone’s ready control; and it probably applies to Nixon herself. In a Daily Beast interview after the Times article appeared, she clarified that she has experienced an unforced, undeniable attraction to individuals of both sexes. In other words, she’s bisexual, not whimsical. She just happens not to like that term, she said.
　　我之所以用“打动了你的爱人”这几个字眼，是为了试着定义“生来如此”和“选择”这两个极端之间的意味深长的重要领域。这一领域涵盖了“建构如此”、“朝向如此”和“渐成如此”的含义；它整合了一种混合着有效的生物倾向和其他并不可控的因素的可能性。或许这才适合尼克松（Nixon）她自己。在《时报》那篇文章之后，尼克松在一次《每日野兽》（Daily Beast）的访谈中澄清道，对男女两个性别的人，她都有过自然而然、不可否认地受到吸引的经历。换句话说，她是双性恋，而不是水性杨花反复无常。她说她只是不太喜欢双性恋这个词。

　　In any case, concentrating on how she ended up like that misses the point.
　　无论如何，将注意力集中在她是如何以“是双性恋”结题的，就偏离了重点。

　　“Most people’s sexual attractions are pretty much fixed” once they take root, said Jack Drescher, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who has written extensively about homosexuality. In light of both that and the unanswered questions about what fixes them, there’s more wisdom and less harm in accepting and respecting homosexuality than not.
　　一个曾经写过很多同性恋方面文章的精神病学家和精神分析学家杰克·德雷舍尔（Jack Drescher）说，一旦性吸引力确定下来，“大多数人的这种吸引力是相当稳定的”。鉴于这两者——性倾向的稳定以及对其如何稳定仍然未知，那么相比较于排斥和歧视同性恋者，接受和尊重同性恋是更明智而无害的。

　　We don’t need to be born this way to call out Chris Christie, currently trying to avoid responsibility for a decision about same-sex marriage in New Jersey, for being a political wimp. Andrew Cuomo showed courage and foresight in fighting successfully for such legislation in New York. Christie, who fancies himself a dauntless brawler, should do the same in the state next door.
　　我们也不必以“生来如此”的姿态去动员克里斯·克里斯蒂（Chris Christie，新泽西州州长）这种试图逃避自己在新泽西州有关同性婚姻的决议中的责任的政治懦夫。安德鲁·科莫（Andrew Cuomo，纽约州州长)在纽约成功地争取到同样的立法，显现出了他的勇气和远见。一向以无畏的斗士自称的克里斯蒂就在纽约州隔壁，恐怕也该有同样的作为。

　　We don’t need to be born this way to refute the ludicrous assertion that homosexuality poses some special threat to the stability of the American family. We need only note that heterosexuality — as practiced by the likes of Newt Gingrich and John Edwards, for example — isn’t any lucky charm, and yet no one’s trying to heal the straights.
　　我们不必以“生来如此”的姿态去反驳那种认为同性恋会对美国家庭的稳定造成威胁的荒谬论断。我们只需要注意到，像纽特·金里奇（Newt Gingrich）和约翰·爱德华兹（John Edwards） 这类异性恋者也不会给人们带来任何好运，但没人会傻到尝试去治疗这些直人。（注：纽特·金里奇（Newt Gingrich）和约翰·爱德华兹（John Edwards）都是美国不受欢迎的政客。）

　　I honestly have no idea if I was born this way. My memory doesn’t stretch to the crib.
　　坦白说，我不知道我是不是“生来如此”。我的记忆无法触及我的摇篮时光。

　　But I know that from the moment I felt romantic stirrings, it was Timmy, not Tammy, who could have me walking on air or wallowing in torch songs and tubs of ice cream. These feelings gelled early, and my considerable fear of society’s censure was no match for them.
　　但是，在我情窦初开时，是蒂米（Timmy，男孩名），而不是塔米（Tammy，女孩名）能让时而兴高采烈、时而郁郁寡欢、时而甘之如饴。这些感觉早已永驻心田，对于社会责难的巨大恐惧都无法与之匹敌。

　　I know that being in a same-sex relationship feels as central and natural to me as my loyalty to my father, my pride in my siblings’ accomplishments and my protectiveness of their children — all emotions that I didn’t exit the womb with but will not soon shake.
　　我知道处于同性的情感关系之中，对我而言如此重要和自然，就像我对父亲的忠诚，对兄弟姐妹成就的自豪感和对他们的孩子的保护之心一样。所有这些情感都不是与生俱来的，却很难动摇。

　　And I know that I’m a saner, kinder person this way than trapped in a contrivance or a lie. Surely that’s not just to my advantage but to society’s, too.
　　我还知道，相比那些被计谋骗术或谎言所困的人，我这样更健全，也更好。毫无疑问，那不只有利于我，也有利于社会。