New Zealand to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage

   With a vote of seventy-seven in favor and forty-four against, New Zealand is now to be considered as the first nation in the Asia-Pacific region and the thirteenth nation in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.

   Civil unions in New Zealand have been permitted since 2005.  Yet, Wednesday’s decision amends the 1955 Marriage Act, once against same-sex marriage, and also allows same-sex couples from other countries to marry in New Zealand.  With the policymakers that were each voting on the decision having been heavily encouraged to vote based on their conscience, and not on their policy platforms, the results proved to be both surprising and historic.   

   The new law will not go into effect until the end of August.  However, many in New Zealand have celebrated the progressive accomplishment through means of partying in the pubs of Wellington, and through singing the indigenous Maori love song “Pokarekare Ana” in unison with tears of joy.

   However, not everybody is completely in agreement with the recent news.  Australia, New Zealand’s neighbor, shot down the same-sex marriage proposal as it entered Parliament last September.  Julia Gillard, Australia’s Prime Minister, is also strongly against same-sex marriage, and does not seem to be interested in an agreement any time soon.  Meanwhile, other organizations in Australia, like Family First, have created several petitions against same-sex marriage, declaring that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.  Thus, while many Australian same-sex couples are currently making travel arrangements to exchange marriage vows in New Zealand, their marriages will not be recognized in Australia, itself.

   Yet, in retaliation, Australians have recently started a “rainbow rebellion” in which those supporting same-sex marriage “chalk” rainbow colors in public areas of Australia.  Although same-sex marriage still seems to be a stretch for Australia, hope continues to stay within Australia’s gay community as more nations around the world “face reality.”

     

   With New Zealand in the mix, countries that have legalized same-sex marriage now include Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Portugal, and Uruguay.

The Iron Lady

      At her funeral, most people turned out to show their respect, but there was a significant faction that were there to protest.
      Commonly compared to U.S. President Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and he were contemporaries and very close allies during the Cold War. Their relationship has been compared favorably to that of FDR and Winston Churchill. Together, they saw the fall of the Berlin Wall. She also saw to the end of the Argentinian occupation of the Falkland Islands, during which members of both the British and Argentine militaries gave their lives.
      At home, she was a deeply polarizing figure. While her funeral saw many mourners, many of them famous statesmen and ambassadors, many in northern Britain held protests or burned effigies in her "memory," still bitter over her closing of Britain's coal pits which left many out of work. In Ireland, IRA supporters criticized her uncompromising stance on the rebels during her tenure.
      However, for her family, the "Iron Lady" is best summed up by the note left on her coffin by her children, "Beloved mother, always in our hearts."

Perspective

     At about this time last year, I was confused about the United States’ role in world affairs, particularly in the Middle East. Like too many Americans, or anyone for that matter, I was especially uncertain why the U.S. had been waging a war in Afghanistan for more than ten years. I knew that it wasn’t about oil, because Afghanistan produces virtually no oil. I knew that it wasn’t about territorial disputes between nations either, because we were fighting Taliban rebels and Al Qaeda, not the Afghan government itself. Because of my relative ignorance, I opposed American military action in Afghanistan. I thought “We are so far away from West Asia, how does anything that happens there affect the United States?”

It wasn’t until I began studying international relations last fall when I realized that I was deprived of the information that would cause everything to make sense to me, that would cause me to obtain a proper perspective. I will concede that I didn’t seek the proper news sources that I should have. I read the San Jose Mercury, which is generally sensational local articles on the front page, filled with ads in the middle and sprinkled with Associated Press stories. I had quit watching television news because I felt that it was either not centered enough or, like my newspaper, had been sensationalized. I had forgotten about the News Hour.

I was brought out of the fog by the articles that my international relations teacher gave me. I started thinking like a global citizen and learned that nearly all nations are connected to each other in some way and any major event in any given country has the potential to cause a shockwave around the world. This made me see the conflict in Afghanistan in a different light. I began making the argument to people that the West Asian country is a haven for Al Qaeda, the group that ultimately conducted the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. I also argued that such terrorists are a major threat to the security of our allies. With the people who questioned our involvement with the Afghan government and supported complete unilateralism, I made the point that the government is going to need to be able to adopt a democracy and support its people in order to stop the growth of terrorist and rebel groups in Afghanistan. As a superpower, we truly are obligated to protect our allies, leading NATO forces to destroy any threats.

As soon as I learned more about why the United States was in Afghanistan and became able to analyze examples of military involvement such as these, I became ashamed of what I did not know before and of the fact that I didn’t seek the information that I should have. I do not agree with the direction in which mainstream news media is going, but I think that it is the responsibility of every well-educated individual who wants to express his opinion to find trustworthy, reliable news.

It seemed as if I came late to some great debate. By the time I knew what was going on, the Army, Marines, and Air Force were already packing up, getting ready to go home. Public sentiment had shifted dramatically in the negative direction, giving the military very little opportunity to right the wrong in terms of strategy and continue employing “small war” counterinsurgency tactics, which have only been used for a short time in Afghanistan. Even though I am just a student with a negligible amount of political pull, I feel as if I could have made a difference if I had developed a sense of perspective sooner.