"One man, one woman" may be a popular slogan among politicians opposed to gay marriage. But for thousands of Americans for whom sexual identity is anything but straightforward, the phrase is a cruel joke.
On Aug. 14, 1956, Brian Sullivan was born to two loving parents in New Jersey. When he was 18 months old, at the advice of Brian's doctor, his parents packed up and moved to a new town. There, they renamed him Bonnie Sullivan and raised him as a girl.
Years later, Bonnie found out that just before the move, her gender had been surgically assigned by her parents. At her birth, it was unclear whether Bonnie was a boy or a girl.
Around the same time, in 1966, 18-year-old Erika Schinegger was the reigning world champion in female downhill skiing. Then, the International Olympic Committee discovered through medical testing that Erika had male chromosomes (XY). The committee's surprise was shared by Erika, who was disqualified.
Bonnie and Erika were born with a condition known as sexual ambiguity or "intersexuality" - an umbrella term for a wide variety of conditions where physical or chromosomal traits, which typically define a person as a male or female, are unclear at birth.
Bonnie has since changed her name to Cheryl Chase and is a vocal advocate for intersexed people. And with good reason. According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as many as one in every 4,000 births displays some degree of sexual ambiguity.
Combine this fact with the larger prevalence of transgenderism - a movement which includes transsexualism, transvestitism and androgyny, among other things - and you have thousands of people across America for whom "one man and one woman" is meaningless.
Yet despite this, limiting marriage is still a major talking point for politicians everywhere - even to the point of amending our constitution to enforce it.
And as Jennifer Maher, a senior lecturer at the Indiana University department of gender studies, points out, "If someone is found to have androgen insensitivity disorder ... then the phrase becomes moot, or at least much more complicated." That syndrome is just one of many well-documented genetic conditions that can result in the lack of a clear identity as male or female.
Of course, enforcing rigid definitions of gender is nothing new. It is nonetheless disturbing how often the male/female choice is forced upon people by their government.
Social Security, driver's licenses, birth certificates - all demand a designation of either male or female. According to the Intersex Society of North America, although most intersexed people happily choose one of the two genders, not all do. Many prefer to define themselves as "third," "trans-," or "inter-" gendered.
It's not hard to include a third option for "unspecified" or "transgender." And that's exactly what many organizations do. Harvard Business School, for example, includes a "transgender" option on its introductory applicant form.
Unfortunately, politicians, particularly those on the right wing, like to capitalize on people's inherent fears and prejudices. So limiting marriage is more about gaining the support of certain voters than it is about reality.
That's why it's ironic that a policy that discriminates against people who are born into a certain body - created by God, if you will - would be so popular with religious leaders and voters.
It may be a long time before the government gets around to recognizing intersexed citizens, or even before the idea of a third option next to "gender" on a form makes sense to most people. But one thing is clear: writing "one man and one woman" into the Constitution stokes the flames of ignorance and further complicates an already misunderstood issue.
Mark Casey is a cultural and political commentator and the publisher of www.MarkCaseyOnline.com.