Dear Governor Schwarzenegger –
With the recent disasters in Myanmar and Sichuan province, we are reminded that we are a large and diverse world.
The traditional, conservative South Pacific island paradise of Tahiti has a social custom that we might think is strange: parents will raise their eldest son as a girl. This is a great honor for both the parents and the child, because the “Mahu,” as they are called, have the most enviable characteristics of both the male and female.
“I am proud of being a Mahu because in Polynesia we belong and we are recognized in this society,” says Coco, a Mahu. “We belong in everyday life.”
Who has the authority to decide if and whom these people should marry in California? Is it you, Governor? Is it society? Or should it be the people who want to get married?
In California, you have made it your job to decide who can marry whom. Now that is a weird custom.
Yours,