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Another Roman Catholic country just took a major step towards equality.
Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday night that civil unions between same-sex couples must be allowed in this nation with more Roman Catholics than any other.In a 10-0 vote, with one abstention, the justices said gay couples deserve the same legal rights as heterosexual pairs when it comes to alimony, retirement benefits of a partner who dies, and inheritances, among other issues.
Among other majority-Roman Catholic polities, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Ireland and Uruguay already recognize gay, lesbian and bisexual relationships as civil unions, whereas Spain, Portugal, Argentina and Mexico City have full marriage equality.
15 Comments
Gee, the Right seems to be losingeverywhere but the US…..alas…
In the west, alywaysNice to think of certain states in the sme class as say, Nigeria, Iran, Iraq, Yeman and Saudi Arabia
A bit too facile, don’t you think?As a woman, I do not equate living in the U.S. as equivalent to living in Saudi Arabia or one of those other states you mention. That’s not even considering how they deal with gay people.
they’re losing here toojust in a step-wise fashion so far.
Yet another third world country with better equal rights than the Land of the FreeIt is really getting hard to be proud of my nation.
Brazil is not a 3rd world countrybut I agree that it is embarrassing to see other western countries leave the USA in the dust on equality issues.
Actually, it isIn both the sense of non-aligned in the Cold War and in the sense of being an emerging or developing economy.
I’d agree with “developing economy”which, by my definition, takes it out of the “3rd world” class. Your mileage may vary.
Brazil alsotops the list on murdered trans women annually. But, you know, congrats on the ability to have legal recognition of your relationships… does this make Brazil a “discrimination free zone”?
That is a distressing statistic. Can you provide a link to the source?At the least, now when another LGBT person is attacked or heaven forbid murdered in Brazil, the spouse will be legally recognized by the state as the victim’s family. It’s bad enough being attacked – worse when your spouse isn’t allowed to care for you. That will now change.
I haven’t heard anyone claiming that Brazil is a “discrimination free zone”. Who’s saying that? That would be a ridiculous claim.
2010 stats:http://www.transrespect-transp…
“The TDOR 2010 update has revealed a total of 179 cases of reported killings of trans people from November 20th 2009 to November 19h 2010. The update shows reports of murdered or killed trans people in 19 countries in the last year, with the majority from Brazil (91), Guatemala (15), Mexico (14, and the USA (14).”
Yeah.. almost 100 murdered trans people (almost all women, largely sex workers, no convictions reported). The stats for 2009 had Brazil at the top, but with fewer murders.
The HRC’s Liz Birch called Maryland a “discrimination free zone” in 2001 when SO was protected in employment and housing and public accommodations. I believe (not sure) that NY was also lauded as free of discrimination for passing SONDA.
Also, some friends of mine in Brazil aren’t exactly sure if the decision will cover trans people or not. I’m not clear about the specifics, but it has something to do with legal recognition of trans folks and if the law considered them being either male or female or something else. But, you know, it’s all good for the “legal recognition of relationships now” majority of the GLB.
It is a question of specific issuesSome US States are toying with attempted re-criminalisation. Think of the nations where homosexuality remains criminal…
The Guatamala numbers look the worstif you consider how small (I presume) the population is there compared to Brazil or the USA. The murder rate there looks extremely high. But I see your point regarding the sheer total in Brazil. Ugh.
Not sure why this court ruling wouldn’t benefit trans people in s-s relationships too, but I’m sure you’re right that it may take some time to see how everything shakes out if the trans-related laws aren’t settled yet. Do you know, is Brazil like the USA where each state decides for itself how to handle official sex and gender designations for trans people, or are there overarching federal-level laws?
YesGuatemala probably has a higher per capita trans murder rate. However, Brazil topped the list for the two years this project has been active. I’m reminded of Honduras in 2009. They had a huge spike in anti-LGBT violence and the country’s most visible trans activist was murdered along with a large number of trans women who did sex work as well as trans women doing HIV education. The theory is that the violence was political in nature.
There are federal level regulations on IDs, but changing ID in Brazil is not always an easy task. Part of the marriage issue is because of court decisions that state trans women are women, that they are men, or they are neither. They all conflict.
As far as I know …… Brazil is also pretty bad regarding anti-gay killings.