The Federal Supreme Court (STF) decided for the first time an issue involving the adoption of a child by a homosexual couple, contrary to the Public Ministry of Paraná, which intended to prevent it. The decision was published in the STF Gazette on August 24th.
For the lawyer specializing in same-sex law, Sylvia Maria Mendonça do Amaral, “this new decision is especially important, as it came from the highest instance of our Judiciary. It will certainly influence the country's judges, at first and second instances, and will perhaps serve to raise awareness among legislators and members of society who insist on treating homosexuals as if they were inferior citizens to heterosexuals”.
Toni Reis, president of the Brazilian Association of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, Transvestites and Transsexuals (ABGLT), and her partner, David Harrad, appeared in the second half of 2005, at the Children and Youth Court of Curitiba (PR), to qualify for joint adoption. After two and a half years, the judge handed down a ruling in favor of the couple, with the following reservation: “I consider the request to be valid… that they will be qualified to adopt female children or adolescents aged 10 and over.”
The couple did not agree with the reservation, considering it discriminatory, and appealed to the Court of Justice of Paraná, which recognized that the age or sex limitation for adoption by homosexuals “is unacceptable”. The Public Ministry of Paraná appealed to the STF to prevent the adoption, on the grounds that it is impossible to form a stable union between people of the same sex.
The STF denied the appeal, making the decision of the Court of Justice of Paraná prevail, which granted the couple the right to adopt jointly, without any restrictions regarding the sex and age of the children.
