Last week, the National Council of Justice (CNJ) in Brazil effectively legalized gay marriage in Brazil by ruling that government offices that issue marriage licenses had no authority to deny gay couples marriage licenses if they asked for them. The CNJ is the main legislative panel that oversees the judiciary system of Brazil and is headed by Joaquim Barbosa, who is the chief justice of the Supreme Court. The move follows legalization of gay marriage in neighboring countries Uruguay and Argentina in recent years.
Barbosa stated that notary publics in Brazil shouldn’t wait for the gay marriage bill to be passed in Congress before issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, as the 2011 ruling that gave stable same-sex relationships the same constitutional rights as heterosexual unions should still guarantee gay rights in the country. The G1 news website quoted Barbosa’s comments on the ruling: “Are we going to require the approval of a new law by Congress to put into effect the ruling that already has been made by the Supreme Court? That would make no sense.” Therefore, the previous ruling made by the Supreme Court in 2011 still stands.
The new ruling by the CNJ for gay marriage in Brazil has been praised by gay rights activists as being a step closer to full gay rights for all Brazilian citizens. Despite the earlier same-sex constitutional ruling, some judges and notary public officials refused to give gay couples marriage licenses during a civil union even when requested. But under the new legislation, this type of discrimination would be illegal and subject to disciplinary action. The New York Times quoted Maria Berenice Dias, VP of the Brazilian Institute of Family Law who has fought for extended marriage rights for gay people, as saying “This resolution will end the resistance of some courts, judges and notary publics.”
However, the new legislation could still face opposition in the Supreme Federal Tribunal, the country’s high court, and in Congress, especially by the strong evangelical and Roman Catholic contingent within the lower courts. For example, Marco Feliciano, an evangelical Christian pastor who also leads the lower house’s commission for human rights and minorities, said his Social Christian Party would appeal the decision.
According to the BBC, Brazil has some 60,000 gay couples as well as the largest population of Roman Catholics in the world. The tension between providing gay rights and upholding religious ideology is a difficult balance to achieve, but this new ruling by the CNJ is shadowing decisions made by other Latin American countries. Gay rights activists hope that this new legislation allowing gay marriage in Brazil will allow same-sex couples to have the same rights as heterosexual couples who marry, permitting them to take each other’s surnames and adopt children more easily.
