LGBT history in Brazil

Prior to 1800

• 1533: Portuguese Penal Code is instituted by colonial administration in Brazil. It illegalizes sodomy or any sort of sexual intercourse between people of the same sex; it was influenced by the English Buggery Act 1533.^[1]

19th century

• 1830: Dom Pedro I signed into law the Imperial Penal Code. It eliminates all references to sodomy.^[2]

20th century

• 1979: O Lampião, a gay magazine, with contributions by many famous authors, like João Silvério Trevisan, Aguinaldo Silva and Luiz Mott, is launched. It survived just for a year.

1980-1989

• 1980: Grupo Gay da Bahia, the oldest gay rights organization in Brazil, is founded in Salvador, Bahia, together with SOMOS, another organization in São Paulo, State of São Paulo.

• 1985: the Federal Council of Medicine of Brazil removes homosexuality from further mention as "deviant".^[3]

• 1989: The constitutions of Mato Grosso and Sergipe states are signed into law. They explicitly forbid discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation.^[4][5]

1990-1999

• 1995: Congresswoman Marta Suplicy proposes Bill project No. 1151 concerning civil unions. The bill is pending approval in the House since 1995.

• 1997: G Magazine, the first gay-oriented erotic magazine is published enjoying large and national distribution.

• 1999: the Federal Council of Psychology published a resolution that has standardized the conduct of psychologists face the question: "... psychologists did not collaborate with events or services proposing treatment and cure of homosexuality."

21st century

2000-2009

• 2000: On November 30, the city council of Niterói, in the State of Rio de Janeiro, passed an ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in public places and institutions as well as in businesses.

• 2004: Rio Grande do Sul allows same-sex partners to register civil unions in a generic civil law notary after a court decision in March 2004.^[6]

• 2006: A male gay couple from Catanduva, São Paulo officially adopts a five year-old girl.^[7] According to Folha de S. Paulo, a lesbian couple from Rio Grande do Sul was the first to use this right.^[8]

• June 10, 2007: In its eleventh edition, the São Paulo Gay Pride Parade breaks its own record as the biggest parade in the world and attracts 3.5 million people.^[9]

• June 25, 2007: The Richarlyson affair occurred in which a judge was brought before the Justice Council of São Paulo for stating in court that soccer is a "virile, masculine sport and not a homosexual one." However, afterwards the same judge apologized and afterwards decided to annul the decision he wrote.^[10]

• 2008: National LGBT Conference was held. The event, the first in the world to be organized by a government, is a result of demands made by civil society and the Brazilian government's support of LGBT people's rights.^[11]

2010-present

• 2010: In a landmark trial by ministers themselves, the 4th Class of the Superior Court of Justice of Brazil acknowledged, unanimously, that homosexual couples have the right to adopt children.

• 2011: On May 5, Supremo Tribunal Federal unanimously extended the Stable Unions institute (União Estável) to same-sex couples nationwide by redifining the laic definition of family and provided 112 rights to these couples. The extension of marriage institute was not discussed in this decision.^{[12][13][14][15]}

• 2011: On June 27, first same-sex civil union was converted into a same-sex marriage in Brazil. A Brazilian judge in Sao Paulo had converted a civil union into a same-sex marriage, a first in the nation.

• 2011: On June 28, another stable union between same-sex couples has been converted into a marriage. This time it was Judge Jennifer Antunes de Souza, the 4th of Brasilia Family Court which upheld the order. [1][2]

• 2011: On October 25, The Superior Court of Justice declared that the legal union of two women who petitioned the court could be recognized as a marriage. The decision of the Supreme Court will only reach the authors of the demand, but a precedent for other couples do the same request.^[16]

References