RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Even though the Bolsonaro administration may see “family” and “family values” as something completely different, the notion of family cannot exclude the same-sex partnership, unanimously reiterated the full Federal Supreme Court (STF), when judging the constitutionality of a Federal District (DF) law.
This position was reinforced in the decision of a Direct Unconstitutionality Declaratory Action in which politicl party PT challenged DF Law 6,160/2018, which established the “Public Policy for the Valuation of Family” in the Federal District.
In its Article 2, the law defines as family “the social nucleus formed by the union of a man and a woman, through marriage or stable union”.
The case rapporteur, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, agreed with the plaintiff’s argument that the legislation, as drafted, infringed the constitutional principles of human dignity and equality by restricting the concept of family and omitting same-sex unions.
“When the rule provides for the establishment of guidelines for the institution of public policy to enhance family values in the Federal District, it must also take into account same-sex unions,” wrote Moraes in his opinion, with the concurrence of all STF Justices.
Moraes recalled that the Supreme Court has already declared unconstitutional a provision in the Civil Procedure Code prohibiting the acknowledgment of same-sex unions. Ultimately, the local law was interpreted in accordance with the Constitution, which now includes in its effective range those families formed by same-sex unions.
Source: Agência Brasil