Nearly 4,000 same-sex couples got married in Brazil in 2013
Same-sex couples are increasingly seeking legal recognition for their relationships
The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) reported this Tuesday (Dec. 9) in its survey of civil registry acts that 3.701 same-sex civil weddings were officiated last year in Brazil. Most of the couples (52%) were women, and a majoritiy of ceremonies took place in São Paulo.
It's the first time the survey has covered same-sex civil weddings. The average age of the homosexual couples was 37 for men and 35 for women.
Cláudio Nascimento, Superintendent on Individual, Group, and Mutual Rights, and Coordinator for the Rio without Homophobia state policy, and his partner, João Silva, were the first couple to have their partnership legally recognized as marriage in the state of Rio de Janeiro, in 2011. Now, he works to make the dreams of hundreds of homosexual couples a reality.
“More and more same-sex couples have been seeking to gain legal recognition of their relationships. Getting married ensures that couples can pursue a number of their aspirations together, including buying real state together and growing their families, and provides a considerable level of legal certainty,” Nascimento said.
“But it takes more than rights to get married – LGBT populations should be given the conditions to pursue their rights, and that's why we have been holding these mass ceremonies for them”, he added.
In 2011, Brazil's Supreme Court gave legal recognition to stable homosexual partnerships. That means a gay couple will have the same rights (and obligations) as any family. And last year, the National Judiciary Council (CNJ) decided that those partnerships could be registered as civil marriage.
Fonte: Nearly 4,000 same-sex couples got married in Brazil in 2013
