President's Statement on DREAM Act's Failure To Pass

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 18, 2010 

Statement by the President on the Senate Vote on the DREAM Act 

In an incredibly disappointing vote today, a minority of Senators prevented the Senate from doing what most Americans understand is best for the country. As I said last week, when the House passed the DREAM Act, it is not only the right thing to do for talented young people who seek to serve a country they know as their own, it is the right thing for the United States of America. Our nation is enriched by their talents and would benefit from the success of their efforts. The DREAM Act is important to our economic competitiveness, military readiness, and law enforcement efforts. And as the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office reported, the DREAM Act would cut the deficit by $2.2 billion over the next 10 years. There was simply no reason not to pass this important legislation.

It is disappointing that common sense did not prevail today.  But my administration will not give up on the DREAM Act, or on the important business of fixing our broken immigration system.   The American people deserve a serious debate on immigration, and it’s time to take the polarizing rhetoric off our national stage. 

I thank Senators Durbin, Reid, and Menendez for their tireless efforts. Moving forward, my administration will continue to do everything we can to fix our nation’s broken immigration system so that we can provide lasting and dedicated resources for our border security while at the same time restoring responsibility and accountability to the system at every level. 

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DADT Passes 63-33, DREAM Act Fails 55-41!

It feels like election day 2008 again. Happiness that finally some action has occurred on the LGBT legislative agenda but I'm devastated that the DREAM Act will not become law anytime soon.

So this time LGBT people won, but people of color lost. In 2008, people of color won (with the election of President Obama) but LGBT people lost (with the passage of Proposition 8).

Hmmm, that is now TWO achievements Barack Obama has been able (in two years) to do that "Big Dog" Bill Clinton could not get done in (8 years): health care reform AND the repeal of the disgraceful military ban on open military service by lesbians and gay men.

BREAKING: DADT and DREAM Act Cloture Votes SATURDAY!

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed for cloture on both the DREAM Act and the stand-alone DADT Repeal bill for Saturday morning, The Advocate.reporter Kerry Eleveld  tweets. (Cloture is a procedural motion which kills a filibuster of it gets 60 votes).

It has been reported that DADT Repeal has at least 61 votes in favor in the U.S. Senate. The DREAM Act received 59 votes last Friday (DADT repeal got 57 votes) and, presumably Reid would not be bringing it up if he hadn't heard from at least one more Senator to support the measure which provides a path to citizenship for immigrants under the age of 30 who are undocumented because they were brought to this country when they were a minor and have been physically present in the United States for at least 5 years.

The U.S. House has already passed both the Dream Act (216-198) and the DADT repeal bill (250-175).

Let's hope the Senate can finally get its act together and pass something progressive for a change, enact legislation which helps the less powerful instead of giving aid and comfort to the affluent.

DREAM Act Passes House 216-198! Task Force Applauds

The DREAM Act has passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 216-198!

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is pleased at the result, via press release:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 — The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, a longtime advocate for fair and humane comprehensive immigration reform, commends the U.S. House's passage tonight of the Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act (DREAM Act), which offers undocumented young people "conditional permanent residency" if they arrived in this country before they were 16 and attend college or serve in the military. Upon graduation or completion of their enlistment, they would receive permanent legal residency with an opportunity to apply for U.S. citizenship. In addition to the DREAM Act, the Task Force is working in coalition with immigrant rights groups toward passage of comprehensive immigration reform and the Uniting American Families Act.

Statement by Rea Carey, Executive Director
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

"Many people like to say that youth are our future. We are now a step closer to ensuring brighter and more secure futures for our young people, including countless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth, by providing them a path to citizenship. The United States is built on the belief that everyone get a fair shake to fully participate in civic life, and to be able to build a future in the country they love and call home. Passage of the DREAM Act does justice to this fundamental and humane principle. Tonight's House passage is an important first step toward fixing this nation's broken immigration system, but much remains to be done. We urge the Senate to pass the DREAM Act, and continue to call on federal lawmakers and the Obama administration to work toward fair and comprehensive immigration reform."

Here, here!

DREAM Act Up For Vote Today

The DREAM Act is going to be voted on today in the Senate. It needs 60 votes to survive a filibuster from Republicans. Call your Senators to tell them to vote YES on S. 3992 (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2010)

LGBT DREAM Act Event at LA Gay & Lesbian Center This Sun

This Sunday I will be attending an event called Standing with the Students: Out, Proud and Undocumented at the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center. It is a fundraiser to support LGBT students who would be impacted by the DREAM Act, which is scheduled for a vote in the United States Senate next week, as an attachment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2010, the same legislation that will include DADT repeal language.

I'm on the Host Committee (and member of the board of directors of Immigration Equality Action Fund). The event's goal is to raise at least $5,000 for scholarships for LGBT undocumented students attending UCLA. U.S. Representative Judy Chu is the featured guest.

Immigration Equality Supports DREAM Act Passage

For Immediate Release                                                                                 Contact:  Steve Ralls
September 15, 2010                                                (202) 347-7007 / sralls@immigrationequality.org

Immigration Equality Action Fund
Calls for Swift Passage of DREAM ActGroup Notes Measure Would Benefit Large Number of LGBT Youth

Washington, DC – The Immigration Equality Action Fund, which advocates on Capitol Hill for equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and HIV-positive immigrants and their families, today urged lawmakers to support passage of the Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act (DREAM Act), noting that the measure would benefit countless LGBT youth by providing them with a path to citizenship in the United States.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced on Tuesday that he would schedule a vote on the bill, which includes a path to citizenship via military service, as an amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization Act next week.

“The DREAM Act is a critical step forward in addressing our country’s broken immigration system,” said Rachel B. Tiven, the group’s executive director.  “Many of the young, undocumented people who would benefit from its passage are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.  For them, and all undocumented youth, DREAM provides an opportunity to build a life, and fully participate, in the country they call home.  Congress should address the full array of obstacles and discrimination immigrants and their families face under our current immigration system, and passage of the DREAM Act is an important first step in doing just that.”

The DREAM Act will be proposed as part of DoD Authorization, which will also include a measure to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban on lesbian and gay service members.  Without repeal, the group noted, it would be impossible for undocumented LGBT youth to fully participate in the opportunities offered by DREAM. 

“The DREAM Act offers two paths to citizenship, and one of those is through service in our armed forces,” Tiven added.  “As long as the military’s ban remains in place, however, that path is unavailable to LGBT youth who want to serve their adopted country through military enlistment.  As such, it is critical that Congress pass both DREAM and repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ so that all young people have an opportunity to truly be part of the fabric of our nation.”

“We need an immigration system that treats everyone fairly and honors our history as a nation of immigrants,” Tiven concluded.  “Every member of the American family – including LGBT young people, binational families and asylum seekers, deserve a fair shake at being part of the American dream. That’s also why Congress must urgently pass other family unification measures such as the Uniting American Families Act, the Reuniting Families Act and a comprehensive legislative package that protects all families, too.”

# # #

Immigration Equality Action Fund advocates on Capitol Hill for equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV-positive immigrants and their families. To end discrimination in U.S. immigration law, Immigration Equality Action Fund works to pass the Uniting American Families Act and LGBT-inclusive Comprehensive Immigration Reform. The Action Fund lobbies legislators and other policy makers, builds coalitions, and empowers LGBT immigrant families around the country to fight for change.

BOOK REVIEW: Aravind Adiga's THE WHITE TIGER

Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger won the 2008 Man Booker Prize, the most prestigious individual book prize in English (only writers from Commonwealth countries are eligible).

I got the book for Christmas in 2008 and finally read it over my summer vacation in August 2009.

The White Tiger is a book about contemporary Indian life, told in a very readable, darkly comic style by a prose magician.

It is one of the few Booker prizewinners that can easily be read in an afternoon. (Or even read at all. I still have a copy of Salman Rushdie's Midnight Children, barely begun, no my bookshelf.) Having been to India myself in the last 5 years I am always curious to see depictions of the country in film and novels. This was one of (not the most important) things which made Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire (read my review here) so enjoyable to me. I'm not saying if it wasn't set in India the movie would not have been interesting to me; I'm saying that the added India element enriches the work in my eyes, thanks to my interest in the subject.

Anyway, Aviga's work is written in the form of a series of letters to the Premier of China (The White Tiger of the book's title) and follows the adventures of Balram Halwai, a perfectly ordinary Indian man from a typical Indian village who happens to be the narrator of the book--and a murderer.

Adiga has harsh social commentary on almost every aspect of Indian society, from elections to malls to religion (so many gods, so little time!) which has made the book somewhat controversial in some circles, presumably even more so now that it has been awarded the Booker.

In the end, though, there's something not quite satisfying about The White Tiger. After you finish it, you feel like you are ready to read another book, about half an hour later.

Title: The White Tiger

Author: Aravind Aviga
Publisher: Free Press
Date: October 14, 2008.
Length: 352 pages.

PLOT: B.
IMAGERY: B+.
IMPACT: B-.
WRITING: A-.

OVERALL GRADE: B/B+.

Federal Judge Stops Bad Parts of AZ Immigration Law

Good news from Arizona for once! The federal judge who was was considering seven lawsuits filed against Arizona's controversial, draconian immigration law has enjoined several key provisions from going into effect tomorrow.

The overall law will still take effect Thursday, but without the provisions that angered opponents — including sections that required officers to check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws.

The judge also put on hold parts of the law that required immigrants to carry their papers at all times, and made it illegal for undocumented workers to solicit employment in public places. In addition, the judge blocked officers from making warrantless arrests of suspected illegal immigrants.

"Requiring Arizona law enforcement officials and agencies to determine the immigration status of every person who is arrested burdens lawfully-present aliens because their liberty will be restricted while their status is checked," U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton ruled.

There are still many provisions of SB 1070 that will go into effect that will make life harder for immigrants in that state, however, so protests against the law will continue.
MadProfessah will continue his boycott of the state until the legal status of the law is resolved.

Iranian Gay Immigration Activist Risks Deportation And Execution

Meet Mohammed Abdollahi, a 24-year-old gay man of Iranian descent who is also an undocumented immigrant who has been advocating for quick passage of the DREAM act (which would legalize the status of undocumented young people who either enlist in the military or attend college), and now faces deportation to Iran, where openly gay men are often executed.

Now, that is what I call putting your life on the line for a cause.

POLL: Support for AZ Immigration Law Hits 57%

A new CBS national poll indicates that support for the arguably racist Arizona immigration law has hit 57%.

Support for the measure increased five points since May. Since then, the Justice Department has filed suit against the law, claiming that it usurps federal authority to enforce immigration laws.

The measure in question, signed into law in April and slated to go into effect later this month, makes it a state crime for a person to be in the country illegally. It also requires local law enforcement to question a person about his or her immigration status during all "lawful stops" if there is "reasonable suspicion" that person may be in the country illegally.

Twenty-three percent of Americans think the law goes too far, according to the poll, conducted July 9 - 12. That's down five points from the 28 percent who said in May that the measure goes too far. Another 17 percent said it doesn't go far enough.

About half of Americans - 52 percent -- say states should be able to enact laws regarding illegal immigrants, while 42 percent think only the federal government should able to do so.

There is a sharp partisan divide on this question: most Democrats (58 percent) say laws covering illegal immigration should be the responsibility of the federal government only, while Republicans (64 percent) and independents (58 percent) think the states should be allowed to pass such laws.

Half of Americans think illegal immigrants take jobs that Americans don't want, while fewer - 42 percent -- say they take jobs away from Americans.

The CBS poll also indicates that public support for the health care reform legislation has dropped seven points since May 20th.

Interestingly, a poll of LGBT respondents show that they overwhelmingly oppose the Arizona law.

20 LGBT Group Blast Arizona Anti-Immigrant Law

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights groups and allies join
outcry against anti-immigrant measure in Arizona

More than 20 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality groups and allies today issued the following joint statement:

Arizona’s S.B. 1070 takes the state down a path that will lead to racial profiling, discrimination and anti-immigrant extremism. We stand in solidarity with other individuals, organizations and local governments in rejecting the misrepresentation of immigrants put forth in this unjust and ill-conceived measure.

S.B. 1070 essentially declares an entire class of people to be inherently criminal on the basis of their race and appearance. The consequences of S.B. 1070 are grave and troubling: the inevitability of racial profiling and infringement of civil liberties; the strong probability of violence and harassment against individuals and their families; and the reversal of progress toward creating a more inclusive society.

We also note that this bill was signed into law by Gov. Jan Brewer, the same governor who last year stripped away earned health insurance benefits from the same-sex domestic partners of state employees. Brewer’s actions as governor demonstrate, at best, callous indifference — and at worst, willful malice — toward immigrants and LGBT people alike.

All Arizona families — lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight — have reason to be alarmed. The state’s new law threatens to tear apart families, separate children from their parents and rip apart loving couples who are building their lives together. The LGBT community knows all too well how easily people who “look different” or “act different” can be singled out for harassment and persecution. LGBT immigrants will be doubly vulnerable under this law, which gives license to discriminate.

We are united in our determination to stand for political and legislative change that will ensure just treatment of immigrants, people of color, and all people in Arizona. Such justice requires the repeal of S.B. 1070 and the passage and implementation of comprehensive federal immigration reform.

Today we join with groups such as Service Employees International Union, League of United Latin American Citizens, Asian American Justice Center, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, National Council of La Raza, National Action Network, the National Puerto Rican Coalition, and many others in the boycott against the state of Arizona until S.B. 1070 is repealed, overturned by the courts, or superseded by comprehensive federal immigration reform.

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund
Human Rights Campaign
GLAAD
Immigration Equality
National Black Justice Coalition
National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs
Out & Equal Workplace Advocates
International Foundation for Gender Education
Family Equality Council
Two Spirit Press Room
Equality Federation
National Minority AIDS Council
National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce®
Freedom to Marry
Gay Men's Health Crisis
Lambda Legal
BiNet USA
International Federation of Black Prides, Inc.
Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals
UNID@S
SAGE
Atticus CircleNational Center for Lesbian Rights

Hey Arizona, This Is What An Immigrant Looks Like!

The newly crowned Miss USA is Rima Fakih, and she is an Arab-American immigrant whose Catholic Lebanese family came to the United States (legally) when she was a baby. Rima was Miss Michigan. Interestingly, the first runner-up, Miss Oklahoma Morgan Elizabeth Woolard expressed support for Arizona's anti-immigrant law SB 1070 during the very same beauty pageant.

I wonder if the new Miss USA will be traveling to Arizona in the next year?

Hat/tip Carlos in DC.

Schooling Fools: Race, LGBT Rights and Immigration

MadProfessah friend Hans Johnson has written an interesting piece in the Huffington Post which connects the dots between anti-gay purges of the past and the current anti-immigrant legislation coming out of Arizona. In it, he says:

The past is not the only guide toward greater solidarity with immigrants. One would think an entire decade of antigay ballot measures that played on stigma and bigotry to ban recognition of same-sex partners' freedom to marry would make the gay community staunch foes of anti-immigrant bias and its deployment in state law. That is mostly the case, in part because thousands of LGBT people are themselves immigrants or have partners or family members who must navigate the exploitation, suspicion, ignorance, and outright hate that greets immigrants, undocumented and otherwise.

Yet gay people are not immune from fecklessness in the face of anti-immigrant rhetoric and policy-making. In a well-publicized essay from 2006, lesbian commentator Jasmyne Cannick from Los Angeles all but told immigrants then denouncing a hostile bill in Congress and demanding reform that provides a path to legal citizenship, to wait in line behind the native-born. "It's a slap in the face to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people to take up the debate on whether or not to give people who are in this country illegally any rights when we haven't even given the people who are here legally all of their rights," Cannick wrote.

Whether callousness or merely lack of foresight, one chilling consequence of what Cannick voiced came to life just two years later in the outcome of California's voting on Proposition 8, which eliminated access to civil marriage for same-sex couples. Many California immigrants, Latino and otherwise, ignored gay people's pleas for justice and against being singled out by the policy-making process and voted to add Prop 8 to the state constitution. Thanks to that ballot measure, it is now embedded there. The lesson may be clear in retrospect. Turning away from unfairness, and spurning a chance for coalition, can cause reciprocal injury.

It's pretty amazing that any disenfranchised group would tell another "the line to get equal rights starts behind me" but that's arguably what the short-sighted Cannick was saying (and Johnson was laudably calling her out on).

Cannick's pieces have appeared at the Black politics blog Jack and Jill Politics, but happily there are people there who see understand the importance of solidarity and coalition building. In "What Part of ‘If You Ain’t White’, don’t you understand?" rikyrah points out this disturbing response to Arizona's recent xenophobic actions:

Nearly two-thirds of Americans back Arizona’s new anti-illegal immigration law, which makes it a state crime for a person to be in the country illegally. The law also requires local and state law enforcement officials to question people about their immigration status if they suspect they’re in the country illegally.

Sixty-four percent favor this law, while 34 percent oppose it. But those numbers are essentially reversed among Latinos — with 70 percent of them opposing the law, and only 27 percent supporting it.

Even though almost two-thirds of the public supports Arizona’s law, nearly an identical number (66 percent) believe it will lead to the discrimination of Latino immigrants who reside in the U.S. legally.

The point here is that Americans are willing to support a law which they admit will discriminate against some people, because they don't think that law will impact them. rikyrah also points out the direct correlation between Arizona's SB 1070 and its explicit legalization of racial profiling:

There’s a Black person, more likely, a Black Man, racially profiled EVERY DAY in this country.

The only way that we’ve remotely been able to fight this, is because it was ILLEGAL.

Now, if this happens when it’s ILLEGAL, what do you think is going to happen if they make it LEGAL?

Well, I’m not willing to find out.

IS there a Black person out there that thinks that doesn’t recognize THAT WE ARE NEXT ON THE LIST?

Please point to me something in the history of Black folk and Law Enforcement in America that could make me conclude anything OTHER than this?

So, it’s opposition to SB1070 for the selfish reason of SELF-PRESERVATION for me

So, to summarize, there are clear reasons why LGBT people should support immigration reform and oppose anti-immigrant legislation (especially if we expect immigrants and non-gay people to oppose anti-gay legislation) and there are clear reasons why Black people should be interested in promoting immigration legislation and opposing xenophobic public policy (anti-immigrant furors are always based in race, and will not remain targeted at non-Black racial groups for long).

You'd think someone who is Black and gay wouldn't need to learn these lessons in 2010 but, happily, there are several people, including yours truly who are prepared to school fools on the greater good.

Poll Shows Majority Support For AZ Immigration Law

Well, isn't that special? I guess we really are in a post-racial Obama era now, right? Not.

At least two polls (New York Times/CBS and Gallup) show majority support among Americans for Arizona's new harsh anti-immigrant law even though they realize it will probably lead to racial profiling.

The public broadly agrees, across party lines, that the United States could be doing more along its border to keep illegal immigrants out. The view was shared by 78 percent of the respondents.

[...]

Although the respondents broadly agreed that the Arizona law would result in racial profiling, overburden local and state law enforcement agencies and decrease the willingness of illegal immigrants to report crimes for fear of deportation, large majorities said it would reduce the number of illegal immigrants in the state, deter illegal border crossings and, to a lesser extent, reduce crime.

Some attitudes about immigration have remained stable among the public. Most still say illegal immigrants weaken the nation’s economy rather than strengthen it, and public opinion remains divided over how the United States should handle illegal immigrants currently in the country.

But American attitudes toward the law and whether illegal immigrants already here should have a path to citizenship differed markedly across regions and parties. Westerners and Northeasterners, for example, are significantly more likely than those in other regions to say the recent law in Arizona goes too far. And Democrats are much more likely than Republicans or independents to support a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants now in the country.

Just 8 percent of Americans said the immigration system needed only minor changes. The vast majority said it needed reworking, including 44 percent who said it needed to be completely rebuilt and 45 percent who said it needed fundamental changes.

So, maybe we'll see a stronger push for comprehensive immigration reform this year after all? Only time will tell.

It should be noted that it is false that undocumented immigrants do not pay taxes. First of all, everyone pays sales taxes. Also, many undocumented immigrants pay state and federal income taxes. Tax collecting agencies do not share information with immigration agencies.

Calls To Boycott Arizona Increase

In the wake of the enactment of SB 1070 in Arizona many people around the country are following my call for a boycott of the state of Arizona for as long as this law is in effect.

On Tuesday, seven members of the Los Angeles City Council signed a proposal for a boycott, calling for the city to "refrain from conducting business" or participating in conventions in Arizona. Councilman Ed Reyes, who coauthored the proposal with Councilwoman Janice Hahn, said he wants city officials to spend the next 90 days assessing the financial relationships that exist between various city departments and businesses based in Arizona

[...]

The leader of the California Senate, Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), called the law a "disgrace" and said the state also should consider a boycott. He sent a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asking for an inventory of Arizona businesses and government agencies with which California does business.

"The Arizona law is as unconscionable as it is unconstitutional, and the state of California should not be using taxpayer dollars to support such a policy," Steinberg wrote.

Already, several organizations have canceled planned conventions in Arizona. The American Immigration Lawyers Assn. announced that it is moving its fall convention, originally scheduled for Scottsdale in September.

Interestingly, according to Jon Stewart there is a provision in the law that if you declare that you are a citizen, then the police are supposed to take you at your word.

Obama Denounces Racist AZ Immigration Law

Gov. Jan Brewer signed the hateful anti-immigrant bill into law, which will go into effect 90 days after the Arizona legislature adjourns. As I said before, I will be boycotting the state of Arizona until this law is no longer in effect.

AZ Passes Bill To Criminalize Undocumented Status

The Republican-dominated Arizona legislature has passed a bill which would require police officers in the state to issue citations to people whom they have a "reasonable suspicion" is an undocumented immigrant, and determine their immigration status. Gee, I wonder how many blonde haired, blue-eyed Canadian immigrants are going to be cited!

Currently, officers can inquire about someone's immigration status only if the person is a suspect in another crime. The bill allows officers to avoid the immigration issue if it would be impractical or hinder another investigation.

Citizens can sue to compel police agencies to comply with the law, and no city or agency can formulate a policy directing its workers to ignore the law -- a provision that advocates say prevents so-called sanctuary orders that police not inquire about people's immigration status.

The bill cements the position of Arizona, whose border with Mexico is the most popular point of entry for illegal immigrants into this country, as the state most aggressively using its own laws to fight illegal immigration. In 2006 the state passed a law that would dissolve companies with a pattern of hiring illegal immigrants. Last year it made it a crime for a government worker to give improper benefits to an illegal immigrant.

Pity. I really enjoyed visiting Saguaro National Park outside of Tucson, but I will not be going to that state for as long as that state becomes law. Say, bye-bye to tourist dollars, Arizona!

Travelling To DC Today

Today is a travel day, as I fly to Washington, D.C. for a business meeting at the National Science Foundation. Unfortunately, I will not be in town for the big immigration rally on Sunday (click on the new blogad in the upper right hand corner!) but I definitely support the goals of the marchers to call for comprehensive immigration reform.

Immigration Equality, the LGBT immigration group, will have a contingent in the march. If you're in town, Join Them!

BOOK REVIEW: Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex

Finally buckled down and read Jeffrey Eugenides' Pulitzer Prize-winning Middlesex awhile back as part of gay male book club. It was quite interesting to read this fictionalization of a child of Greek immigrant parents who experiences firsthand knowledge that sex is not always a binary selection between male and female.

I had heard many things about Middlesex because it had won the Pulitzer Prize and was about topics that I am interested in: immigrant life, sex, gender and sexuality.

The book is about the life of Cal Stefanides, who is born as an intersexed individual due to the unwitting coupling of two generations of his immediate relatives.

The part of the book which deals with the travails of Cal's grandparents travels from a little town in Greece to the big city of Detroit, MI are one of the highlights of the book for me. Eugenides portrays a lightly fictionalized account of various important historical events in Detroit in particular and the United States in general during the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

Cal doesn't make an appearance in the book until almost the halfway point, and then "he" appears as Calliope. Because of an inattentive, near-senile family physician and indeterminate genitalia, Cal is raised as a girl for the first 16 years of his life, and we (the reader) are given a first-person account of what it is like for a heterosexual person to grow up in a body whose body and surroundings represent a gender different from the gender in their mind.

I know that some people had problems with the heteronormative world-view of a novel which is asking the reader to be mentally flexible about sex and gender. However, I am sympathetic to Eugenides not necessarily wanting to complicate the issues he was portraying by including sexual orientation into the mix. However, I do agree with his critics' point that at the very least the author could have been more nuanced in his approach to sexual orientation.

It's definitely true, that for me, the book does not end well and really starts going down hill when the main character of Calliope is introduced. However, as an intoxicating melange of historical fiction and teenage coming-of-age tale, Middlesex is not a book you will soon forget.

Title: Middlesex.
Author: Jeffrey Eugenides.
Paperback: 544 pages.
Publisher: Picador.
Date: June 5, 2007.

OVERALL GRADE: A- (3.67/4.0).
PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: B+.
WRITING: A.