South America continues to demonstrate that it is becoming far more progressive and supportive of the concept of equality under the law than the United States. A tenth Brazilian state has legalized gay marriage. Adding to the divergence from American anti-gay bigotry and inequality is the fact that ALL states in Brazil must recognize marriages that are legally performed in another state - a far cry from what we live with in backwater states like Virginia where knuckle dragging Christians continue to have their religious views trump the U. S. Constitution. Here are highlights from
On Top Magazine:
On Wednesday, Parana (South) became the tenth Brazilian state to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry without the permission of a judge, the AFP reported.
While no federal law allows gay couples to marry in Brazil, the nation's Supreme Court in 2011 ruled that the government must recognize the unions of gay couples. Soon after, gay couples in various states petitioned judges to convert their “stable unions” into full marriages, with mixed rulings.
Marriage is regulated at the federal, not state, level in Brazil. Neither the country's constitution nor its federal laws ban such unions.
According to a count by the office of Rep. Jean Wyllys, Brazil's first openly gay lawmaker, ten states out of twenty-seven now automatically convert such unions into marriage, they include: Alagoas, Bahia, Ceara, Sergipe, Espiritu Santo, Piaui, Sao Paulo, Parana, Mato Grosso do Sul and the Federal District.
Only time will tell if America will catch up with nations that many Americans once thought of as backward banana republics.
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