Govt lawyer moves to legalise same-sex unions
Brazil’s attorney general asked the Supreme Court to legalise same-sex unions in the South American nation, which is home to the world’s largest Roman Catholic population, her spokeswoman said.
In a motion filed with the court on Thursday, Attorney General Deborah Duprat said there are “no reasonable arguments to justify denying homosexuals the right to have their stable relationships recognised by law”.
A bill that would give same-sex couples the same rights as those enjoyed by married heterosexual couples has been stalled in Congress for more than a decade.
Ms Duprat’s spokeswoman Lidian Matos said the motion does not violate a constitutional clause defining marriage as a stable union between a man and a woman.
“It is a definition, not a limitation,” she said. “It does not say that only a man and a woman are capable of forming a stable union. Nowhere in the constitution is it written that a stable relationship between two people of the same sex is illegal.”
The motion argues that failing to recognise same-sex unions violates “the constitution’s defence of human dignity and equality”.
Geraldo Martins Dias, spokesman for the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops, said the country’s Roman Catholic hierarchy would not immediately comment on the motion.
Gay rights activists hailed the move, however.
“We are extremely happy,” activist Toni Reis said in a phone interview. “This is a very important step toward ending the discrimination suffered by Brazilian gays who for years have been demanding the right to equal treatment.”
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expressed support for same-sex unions last year.
