Brazil - Rio de Janeiro State Legalizes Gay Marriage

Despite the violence of the Christofascists in France - which is fueled by hate groups like the National Organization for Marriage and its likely financier, the Catholic Church - gay marriage advances continue around the world, particularly in South America.   Last week Uruguay approved full gay marriage and in Columbia, if the legislature fails to act by June 20, 2013, the Supreme Court will usher in gay marriage.  Now, Rio de Janeiro state in Brazil became the 11th state in that nation to grant full gay marriage.  And, unlike in the USA thanks to the bigotry enshrined in DOMA, in Brazil gay marriages performed in any state that allows them are recognized nationwide.  Gay Star News looks at this development.  Here are highlights:

The General Magistrate of Justice of Rio de Janeiro state, Judge Valmir de Oliveira Silva, published a legal ruling authorizing gay marriage in the state

Rio de Janeiro has become today (April 19) the 11th state of Brazil to institute marriage equality.  The other states being: São Paulo, Paraná, Mato Grosso do Sul, Espírito Santo, Bahia, Alagoas, Sergipe, Piauí, Ceará and the Federal District of Brazilia.

The ruling, published in the state’s official notification a few hours ago today, stated that it found the existing legal provisions [i.e. no marriage equality] unconstitutional and in breach of the Federal Supreme Court’s previous ruling on gay marriage.

The ruling recognizes ‘the stable union between persons the same sex as a family unit, assigning to homosexual cohabitants the same rights and duties arising … as … heterosexual, with immediate … [and] binding effect’.

Will the U. S. Supreme Court have the courage and honesty to rule that bans on gay marriage are unconstitutional or will America lag further and further behind in terms of nations that recognize and support equality and liberty.

Brazilian Priest's Erotic Sex Abuse Dungeon

The Catholic Church sex scandals seems to have no end in sight as stories of abuse by priests continue to come to light around the world. Worse yet, in some cases the accused predators were shipped from parishes to unsuspecting parishes in other parts of the world. One place where such priests are surfacing is in Brazil where new allegations against a Polish priest take the abuse scandal to new bizarre levels like something out of a bad porn movie. True to form, the Catholic bishop has stated his "regret" for the situation, yet no one seems to take responsibility for allowing such freaks into the priesthood in the first place much less responsibility for the obvious deliberate cover ups. The Church condemns loving, committed gay relationships, yet continues to harbor sexual predators. Here are highlights from Google News on the latest out of Brazil:
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A court has ordered the arrest of a Polish priest suspected of sexually abusing a teenager in a Rio de Janeiro suburb and turning his parish home into what the judge described as an "erotic dungeon" for sex with adolescents, authorities said Friday.
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State prosecutors have accused Marcin Michael Strachanowski, 44, of handcuffing the 16-year-old former altar boy to a bed three years ago in the parish house where the priest lived and threatening to kill the youth if he spoke of the abuse. "I already know the flowers I will place on your coffin," Strachanowski warned, according to prosecutors.
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The Polish priest was suspended from his duties after the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro learned of the order for his arrest, church spokesman Adionel Carlos da Cunha said in a statement issued Friday. The judge issued the order on Thursday. The archdiocese "expresses its regret over what happened, especially with the people involved and possible victims," he said.
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[I]nvestigators found "erotic material sent to the victim via Internet to seduce him" and that the priest also took other youths to the parish house, "which he converted into a kind of erotic dungeon where he submitted them, often with the use of handcuffs, to orgies."
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Sex-abuse scandals involving the Roman Catholic Church have mushroomed around the world recently, and some of the accused priests have surfaced in Brazil, home to more Catholics than any other nation.
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Late last month, prosecutors charged the Rev. Jose Afonso with abusing altar boys ranging in age from 12 to 16. Prosecutors said the alleged abuses took place in the city of Franca, in southeastern Sao Paulo state.
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Also last month, 83-year-old Monsignor Luiz Marques Barbosa was detained in northeastern Brazil for allegedly abusing at least three boys after being caught on videotape having sex with a young man, a former altar boy. Barbosa is under house arrest while authorities investigate. Two other priests in the same archdiocese are also accused of abuses.

Rio's gay pride parade draws 800,000 to 1 Million

Brazil and some other South American countries continue to move ahead of the USA in their treatment of members of their LGBT communities. As PageOneQ reports (http://pageoneq.com/news/2007/Hundreds_of_thousands_fill_Rio_for_cel_1015.html) more than 800,000 people participated in Sunday's gay pride parade in Rio de Jainero along the famous Copacabana Beach. Story highlights include:

Politicians such as Rio de Janeiro Governor Sergio Cabral and tens of thousands tourists were among the revelers at the 12th annual parade. Despite the relatively cool temperatures many participants were scantily clad as they danced to samba music and waved the rainbow flag. The celebrations also took on a serious note, with a call to Brazil's congress for a bill against homophobia, same sex-marriage the right for sexual self-determination.

In June, more than 3.5 million crammed into the streets of Sao Paulo's business district for the world's largest gay pride parade. Sunday's celebrations in Rio were organized by Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transvestites (GLBT) as well as the Ministry of Health and the city Rio.

I may need to learn Portuguese yet!