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Gay News: Brazil's Federal Supreme Court has given gay civil partnerships equal status as straight partnerships.
The church opposed the ruling
Gay couples gain full equality in Brazil
In the historic decision the Court voted ten to zero, with one abstention, in favour of giving gay couples the same rights as heterosexual couples.
These rights include inheritance and pension benefits. Lawyers have said that these may also include the right to adopt children.
Brazil has the largest Roman Catholic population in the world, and the move was opposed by the Church, who argued that the Brazilian constitution defined an union as being exclusively between a man and a woman.
However, the Court decided that the Constitution did not explicitly exclude gay men and lesbian partnerships.
Justice Carlos Ayres Britto, the author of the ruling, added: “The freedom to pursue one’s own sexuality is part of an individual’s freedom of expression.”
Newspaper O Globo quoted Claudio Nascimento, head of Rio de Janeiro’s Gay Lesbian and Transsexual Committee, who said. “The degree of civilisation of a county can be measured by the way people in a nation treat their homosexual community.”
Although Brazil has an active gay community, and Sao Paulo’s hosts the world’s largest Gay Pride parade, there have been recent incidences of homophobic attacks, both in the major cities and in rural communities.
