Brazil legalizes same sex unions

Via Wall Street Journal (I wasn't sure i could put the link)

SAO PAULO, Brazil—Brazil's Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples share most - if not all - the same rights as married men and women in a landmark advance for the gay marriage movement in heavily Catholic Latin America.

"This is a historic decision for the gay rights movement, a decision that shows that the rights enshrined in the constitution are for all Brazilians" said Ideraldo Beltrame, 47, the president of the association that organizes Sao Paulo's massive annual gay pride parade and also lobbies for gay rights.

The decision affects legal issues such alimony payments and inheritances for same-sex couples, and may open the door to other rights such as adoption, analysts said.

Brazil is by far the biggest Latin country to open the door to same-sex marriage - but not the first. Argentina became the first Latin American country to allow gay marriage last year, and Mexico City also allows it. Activists say views of same sex marriage in socially conservative Latin America are starting to shift as part of the broader consolidation of democracy and economic development in recent decades.

The issue of gay rights has increasingly become a front-burner topic in Brazil, home of the world's biggest Catholic population.

For example, President Dilma Rousseff was forced into a run-off election last year in part because religious conservative leaders convinced millions of voters that the leftist leader supported a range of gay rights initiatives, as well as legalizing abortion. Ms. Rousseff won the presidency in second round vote.

The ability of religious conservatives to swing so many voters in last year's election underscores a less understood side of a South American nation that's best known around the world for skimpy bikinis and gyrating Carnaval dancers. Much of Brazil is could best be described as agricultural heartland where conservative mores are the norm.

But Mr. Beltrame said that the Supreme Court decision underscored a commitment by the ruling Workers Party to push gay-rights issues, even though it can mean losing some votes.

Legislation to expand marital rights to same sex couples had languished for years in Congress. To speed up the process, Brazil's Attorney General's office sought a ruling from the Supreme Court on whether the constitutional definition of marriage could be interpreted to include same-sex couples. Justices voted 11 in favor, with one abstention.