LGBT rights in Brazil
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Brazil rank among the highest in the world. Same-sex couples in Brazil have enjoyed the same rights guaranteed to heterosexual ones since 16 May 2013, including marriage and adoption. On June 13, 2019, the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is a crime akin to racism.
On May 5, 2011, the Supreme Federal Court voted in favor of granting same-sex couples the same 112 legal rights as couples in stable union. The decision was approved by a 10–0 vote with one abstention – one justice abstained because he had spoken publicly in favor of same-sex unions when he was attorney general. The ruling gave same-sex couples in stable unions the same financial and social rights enjoyed by those in opposite-sex relationships. On October 25, the Superior Court of Justice ruled that two women can legally marry. Differently from the U.S. Supreme Court's "stare decisis", the Superior Court decision would only reach the authors of the demand, but stood as a precedent that could be followed in similar cases. It was the highest court in Brazil to uphold a same-sex marriage. This overturned two lower courts' rulings against the women. The Court ruled that the Constitution guarantees same-sex couples the right to marry and that the current Civil Code does not prohibit the marriage of two people of the same sex. These decisions paved the way for future legalization on same-sex matrimonial rights. Consequently, on May 14, 2013, the Justice's National Council of Brazil legalized same-sex marriage in the entire country in a 14–1 vote by issuing a ruling that orders all civil registers of the country to license and perform same-sex marriages and convert any existing stable unions into marriages if the couples so desire. Joaquim Barbosa, then president of the Council of Justice and the Supreme Federal Court, said in the decision that notaries cannot continue to refuse to "licensing and performance of a civil marriage or the conversion of a stable union into a marriage between two people of the same sex". The ruling was published on May 15 and took effect on May 16, 2013.
The status of LGBT rights in Brazil has expanded since the end of the military dictatorship in 1985, and the creation of the new Constitution of Brazil of 1988. A 2019 survey conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), indicated that out of a total of 108.000 households (representing the entire population), 2.9 million Brazilians self-identify as homosexual or bisexual (1.8% of the population aged 18 and over).
According to the Guinness World Records, the São Paulo Gay Pride Parade is the world's largest LGBT Pride celebration, with 4 million people attending in 2009. Brazil had 60,002 same-sex couples living together and 37,5 million heterosexual couples, according to the Brazilian Census of 2010 (IBGE). The country has about 300 active LGBT organizations.
According to a 2022 Datafolha survey, the percentage of Brazilians who think homosexuality should be accepted by society had increased from 64% in 2014 to 79% in 2022. However, Brazil is reported to have the highest LGBT murder rate in the world, with more than 380 murders in 2017 alone, an increase of 30% compared to 2016. That same year, Brazil also reported the highest homicide rate in its history, with a total of 63,880 homicides.