Via JMG: Marriage Now Legal In All Of Brazil?

It does appear that way.

O Conselho Nacional de Justiça (CNJ) aprovou nesta terça-feira (14), por maioria de votos (14 a 1), uma resolução que obriga os cartórios de todo o país a celebrar o casamento civil e converter a união estável homoafetiva em casamento.  Os cartórios não poderão rejeitar o pedido, como acontece atualmente em alguns casos. A decisão do CNJ poderá ser questionada no Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF).  Segundo o presidente do CNJ e autor da proposta, Joaquim Barbosa, que também é presidente do STF, a resolução visa dar efetividade à decisão tomada em maio de 2011 pelo Supremo, que liberou a união estável homoafetiva.

JMG reader Ricardo provides us with a translation:

The Brazilian Conselho Nacional de Justiça (CNJ) decided by 14-1 vote that notary offices (where civil marriages are performed) in ALL 26 Brazilian states and the capital do Brasília have to officiate same sex marriages. Until this past week, the decision was up for local jurisdictions: 12 states and the federal district had already started doing them. Notary offices can't refuse to perform the unions, as it was happening in some places. In 2011, the Brazilian Supreme Court had decided that gay unions were legal, but left the regulation of marriage to Congress, that has never acted on the matter. Civil unions were law nationwide for the past two years. Federal benefits, like pensions and immigration, have been the norm since 2001.

I'll have more on this today when it hits the English-language press.  Zoom, zoom, zoom!
UPDATE: O Globo has more.
UPDATE II:  Here's the first English-language report.

A top judicial panel cleared the way for same-sex marriage in Brazil on Tuesday, ruling that gay couples could not be denied marriage licenses. The National Council of Justice, which oversees the Brazilian judicial system and is headed by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, said government offices that issue marriage licenses had no standing to reject gay couples. The Supreme Court "affirmed that the expression of homosexuality and homosexual affection cannot serve as a basis for discriminatory treatment, which has no support in the Constitution," said Chief Justice Joaquim Barbosa on the council's website, referring to a 2011 ruling by the top court.

Labels: Brazil, LGBT rights, marriage equality, South America

Reposted from Joe