Gay Marriage & law

The American law & the American political system is a little bit "strange" for us, because they have an special way to decide their judgements, which consists in that courts judgements are not applicable only for the particular case but they are considered also like a "new law". Also the opinions of the different courts from each state apply only for that state, according to the federal system.

This happens now with Gay Marriage: in some states it’s legal (for example in Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire & New York). However, in some another states is considered illegal (like California, New Mexico & New Jersey).

In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the famous (actually infamous) Defense of Marriage Act, that defines the word marriage as “a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife”, and therefore excluding any same-sex marriage or union.

Today, an appeal court in New York declared this definition unconstitutional, because it denies legally recognized rights to current gay unions by the Constitution.

What’s going to happen with gay marriage from now? I think that this debate is going to be probably the second most important criteria in order to vote for the new President of the United States, after the economical crisis. If one of the states that allow gay marriage now considers unconstitutional a federal law (being the worst legal consideration to a law), probably the rest of the citizens will change their minds about this topic.

I also think that arguments for this debate should not consider religious or so-called moral beliefs, because now it’s not a question about how many gay people will go to heaven, it’s a debate about how much law can protect the rights of his own citizens.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/oct/18/defense-of-marriage-act-unconstitutional.

Driving around Terra Incognita

This post will be about my best holidays. Two years ago, in 2010, me and my family had the opportunity to visit Punta Arenas, the capital of the XIIth region of Chile. We were invited by one of my father's friends, who works at Cervecería Austral in the city.

It was a very interesting tour, because we had the chance to visit the two main cities in the region (Punta Arenas & Puerto Natales), and many places that were located near them, such as Torres del Paine Park, the Milodon cave, Bulnes fort & Puerto Hambre.

Bulnes Fort, located a few kilometres from Puerto Hambre

We could divide the trip into two parts: the first one, related to learn about the history of Punta Arenas, the colonization process and the development of city life in the Chilean Patagonia, historically called the Terra Incognita. There was a very “shocking” moment, that happened while we were driving from Punta Arenas to Bulnes Fort, where in the middle of the road we found and old graveyard, where the tombs of old sailors and their families were located. Even in one tomb, there was an inscription telling about the ship that wrecked, made probably by the captain.

The second part of the trip, we travelled to Torres del Paine, and made a trekking session inside the park, walkin' about 10 kilometres in order to reach a waterfall located under the main peak. We had another shocking moment, because we rented a car that didn't have good conditions to be driven, so while we were driving coming back to Puerto Natales, one wheel fell down and we stayed for about three hours in the middle of nowhere, waiting for help. Finally, we could get home safely, but without the car.

Despite this actually funny situation, I loved those holidays because I could learned many things about the southern culture, that usually aren't considered in history books, and therefore, new topics to be discovered are things that you won’t forget ever in your life.

That’s all :D