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Spain
Spain

Historic 24-Hour Run For Gay Rights Around The World

SpainSourcesWORLDCRUNCHSocietyCountries

EL PAÍS (Spain), AFP (France), THE LOCAL (Sweden), TORONTO STAR (Canada), MAIL AND GUARDIAN (South Africa)

Worldcrunch

Gay rights has had a great run the past 24 hours.

In the U.S. elections Tuesday, Maryland and Maine voted yes to gay marriage in referendums, with final results still pending on a similar measure in Washington state. These are historic victories for gay rights activists, the first time popular votes made same-sex marriage legal after the right was ushered into law by court rulings in Massachusetts, Iowa and Connecticut, and by legislatures in Vermont, New York and New Hampshire, reports the Toronto Star.

More good news for gay rights followed on Wednesday when Spain’s highest court confirmed the legality of the gay marriage law passed by the Spanish legislature in 2005, reports El País. The law also legalized adoption for gay couples. Since 2005, more than 22,000 gay marriages have been celebrated in Spain. The legality of the law was contested by the Partido Popular, but 11 of the 12 judges voted to uphold the law, said El País. The twelfth abstained.

Also Wednesday, the French government's cabinet proposed a law legalizing gay marriage in France, according to Agence France Presse. The law faces “virulent opposition from the right and from churches,” says Le Point, while French gay and lesbian associations say it does not go far enough.

Among nations where gay marriage is legal are the Netherlands (2001), Belgium (2003), Canada (2005), Spain (2005), South Africa (2006), Norway (2008), Sweden (2009), Portugal (2010), Iceland (2010), Argentina (2010), and Denmark (2012). Amsterdam claims to be the first city in the world where gay marriage was celebrated, reports French financial newspaper Les Echos.

[rebelmouse-image 27085983 alt="""" original_size="326x479" expand=1]

(On their wedding day in Toronto - M.M)

Still, the trend toward more rights for same-sex couples is not universal, as even being openly homosexual is a criminal act in many countries. Nigeria voted in 2011 to criminalize gay marriage, with 10-year prison sentences for even taking part in such a marriage. “Such elements in society should be killed,” said one senator during debates on the bill, according to South African newspaper Mail and Guardian.

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Society
Parenting

What's Spoiling The Kids: The Big Tech v. Bad Parenting Debate

Without an extended family network, modern parents have sought to raise happy kids in a "hostile" world. It's a tall order, when youngsters absorb the fears (and devices) around them like a sponge.

Image of a kid wearing a blue striped sweater, using an ipad.

Children exposed to technology at a very young age are prominent today.

Kelly Sikkema
SocietyEL ESPECTADORSourcesfeatured-postColombiaCountries
Julián de Zubiría Samper

-Analysis-

BOGOTÁ — A 2021 report from the United States (the Youth Risk Behavior Survey) found that 42% of the country's high-school students persistently felt sad and 22% had thought about suicide. In other words, almost half of the country's young people are living in despair and a fifth of them have thought about killing themselves.

Such chilling figures are unprecedented in history. Many have suggested that this might be the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but sadly, we can see depression has deeper causes, and the pandemic merely illustrated its complexity.

I have written before on possible links between severe depression and the time young people spend on social media. But this is just one aspect of the problem. Today, young people suffer frequent and intense emotional crises, and not just for all the hours spent staring at a screen. Another, possibly more important cause may lie in changes to the family composition and authority patterns at home.

Firstly: Families today have fewer members, who communicate less among themselves.

Young people marry at a later age, have fewer children and many opt for personal projects and pets instead of having children. Families are more diverse and flexible. In many countries, the number of children per woman is close to or less than one (Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong among others).

In Colombia, women have on average 1.9 children, compared to 7.6 in 1970. Worldwide, women aged 15 to 49 years have on average 2.4 children, or half the average figure for 1970. The changes are much more pronounced in cities and among middle and upper-income groups.

Of further concern today is the decline in communication time at home, notably between parents and children. This is difficult to quantify, but reasons may include fewer household members, pervasive use of screens, mothers going to work, microwave ovens that have eliminated family cooking and meals and, thanks to new technologies, an increase in time spent on work, even at home. Our society is addicted to work and devotes little time to minors.

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