La Familia

I don't know. Maybe they were worried that if California allowed gay people to get married there would be a whole stream of homosexuals pouring over the border to get hitched and adopt anchor babies. The good news is that won't be as big a concern now, since the Mexican Supreme Court has just turned back an appeal by prosecutors that said that same-sex marriage was legal in Mexico City. They still have to decide whether or not this applies to states outside the capital, and if it gay couples would be allowed to adopt children.
"It does not appear to me to be unconstitutional," Justice Jose Gudino said during Thursday's session. "The concept of the family established in the constitution ... is an open concept." The concept of the family is open. What a marvelous notion. It puts me in mind of the extended families Kurt Vonnegut used to write about. In "Slapstick" he wrote, "[H]uman beings need all the relatives they can get–as possible donors or receivers not necessarily of love, but of common decency." It also bears the subtitle "Lonesome No More," a sentiment that echoes throughout much of his work. The main character runs for president and upon assuming the office, gives everyone middle names like "Raspberry-19" in hopes that they can connect with other Raspberries or 19's, providing relatives at an exponential rate. Lonesome no more.
The American Heritage Dictionary, a much less amusing read, defines "family" as:
1. (a) A fundamental social group in society typically consisting of one or two parents and their children.
(b) Two or more people who share goals and values, have long-term commitments to one another, and reside usually in the same dwelling place.
2. All the members of a household under one roof.
3. A group of persons sharing common ancestry.
The definition of "marriage" starts out by suggesting that it needs to be a man and a woman, but quickly moves to less gender-specific terms: "the state of being married; wedlock." And so we're left to wonder about those big documents: The Constitution and The Bible. How do we interpret them and whose interpretation is best? Or should it matter at all? Who gets to decide? At the end of the day, I return to more words from Mister Vonnegut: "If you can do no good, at least do no harm." I'm not sure what that is in Spanish, but I'm guessing the Supreme Court of Mexico already knows it.