Marriage Equality In Brazil Crosses 100 Million Threshold

Progress for marriage equality in Brazil is increasing rapidly, as word comes that the tally is now 13 of 26 states (and the federal district) allow same-sex couples to marry legally, instead of going through an annoying two-step process of getting a civil union and then having a local judge rule that the civil union must be recognized as a marriage, which is the state of the law thanks to a 2011 ruling by the Brazil high court.

Freedom to Marry summarized the current marriage equality state of play in Brazil:

Since 2011, federal marriage laws in Brazil have been somewhat confusing; on May 5, 2011, the Supreme Federal Court voted to allow same-sex couples nationwide many of the legal rights as married couples (through a mechanism called "stable union"), and since June 2011, same-sex couples joined together in "stable union" may petition judges to convert their union into a marriage. The two-step process to being married can be performed across Brazil, but now many jurisdictions have ordered a final end to the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage. 

In these states (and the federal district), couples can marry in Brazil without the two-step process: Alagoas (December 2011), Sergipe (July 2012), Espíritu Santo (August 2012), Bahía (November 2012), the Brazilian Federal District (December 2012), Piauí (December 2012), São Paulo (December 2012), Ceará (March 2013), Paraná (March 2013), Mato Grosso do Sul (April 2013), Rio de Janeiro (April 2013), Rondônia (April 2013), and now Paraíba and Santa Catarina (April 2013). 

Now, nearly 60% of the population of Brazil live in states where same-sex couples can marry without the two-step process.

As I mentioned when I blogged about Rio de Janeiro enacting marriage equality last week,  population of Brazil is nearly 200 million people, so 60% means that there are way more than 100 million people who have access to marriage equality in Brazil, which is probably the most anywhere in the world!

Hat/tip to Box Turtle Bulletin