Brazil Should Move Forward, Not Regress

Someone who wishes to be anonymous recently shared this...

Hey I recently found out that there is a new law to be voted to criminalize incest in Brazil.

I don’t think it will pass. I believe incest is more common than people think in Brazil.

...

The article is in Portuguese but I will post the translation here.

“Congressman Sanderson's Bill 603/21 (PSL-RS) criminalizes the practice of incest in Brazil. The text provides for imprisonment of one to five years for those who have sexual intercourse with father or mother, son or daughter, brother or sister and grandfather or grandmother, whether consanguineous relative or affinity.

"The proposal adds an article to the Criminal Code. In Brazil, incest is not a crime, unless it involves children and adolescents. If, on the contrary, those involved are adults and do not act under threat or violence, there is no prohibition for the practice.”

When it comes to certain relationships, Brazil has been closer to equality than most most of the world. Brazil should continue to move forward, not go away from equality.

Consenting adults in Brazil should be free to share love, sex, kink, residence, and marriage, or any of those without the others, without persecution, bullying, criminalization, or any other discrimination. There are people in consanguinamorous relationships all over the country. They aren't hurting anyone. Calling them criminals would be such a terrible injustice.

Are you in Brazil? Whether you are or not, if you have something to say about this, you can comment below or contact Keith.

A Swinging Family

We have another interview to bring you. 

People in consanguinamorous relationships are everywhere, though consanguinamorists tend to be closeted. Swingers area also everywhere, and many also tend to be somewhat closeted. Fortunately, some are willing to be interviewed for this blog. As a result, Full Marriage Equality has featured scores of exclusive interviews with lovers denied their rights. Most can’t even be out if the closet or they’ll gave prosecution under absurd incest laws, which, instead of focusing on abuse, also target consensual relationships.

The man interviewed below should be free to be with both women in his triad without having to hide from anyone, and without discrimination. They are consenting adults who aren’t hurting anyone; why should they have been denied their rights? In much of the world, they could be criminally prosecuted for their love, and might be persecuted severely in addition.

Read the interview below and see for yourself what this man has to say about the new, additional bond he and his wife have. You may think this relationship is interesting, or it might make you uncomfortable, or you might find it ideal, even highly erotic and romantic, but whatever your reaction, should lovers like these be denied equal access to marriage or any other rights simply because they love each other this way?

Also please note that someone you love, respect, and admire could be in a similar relationship right now. Should they be attacked and denied rights because of the "incest" label?

**WARNING: Brief, mild descriptions of sex are included.**

*****

FULL MARRIAGE EQUALITY: Describe yourself.

Mr. Jackson: I’m owner of multiple small stores in Florida. I’ll not dive in the things I work with, but I have a very easy and calm life, without any monetary problems. My wife and I are Brazilians, but we moved around eight years ago to the US for good. We have our daughter, single child, who just turned 24. We are all whites, and we live in South Florida.

Married in Their Hearts

We have another exclusive interview to bring you. As this interview is being published, there are still many people spending more time home with family members. Perhaps some of them will find this interview an inspiration? Or they can see this for some possibilities.

People in consanguinamorous relationships are everywhere, though consanguinamorists tend to be closeted. Fortunately, some are willing to be interviewed for this blog. As a result, Full Marriage Equality has featured scores of exclusive interviews with lovers denied the freedom to marry and have that marriage treated equally under the law.

The couple interviewed below should be free to legally marry, or simply to live together in any place in the world without having to hide, yet they can't. They are consenting adults who aren't hurting anyone; why should they be denied their rights? In much of the world, they could be criminally prosecuted for their love. Fortunately, they are not breaking the law in their country.

Read the interview below and see for yourself what they have to say. You may think this relationship is interesting, or it might make you uncomfortable, or you might find it ideal, even highly erotic and romantic, but whatever your reaction, should these lovers be denied equal access to marriage or any other rights, or be ostracized simply because they love each other this way?

Genetic Sexual Attraction is real, as we see time and time again. And if it brings people together, no law should interfere. Prejudice against their relationship for being "incest" is irrational and harmful.

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FULL MARRIAGE EQUALITY: Describe yourselves.

Lavinia: I'm 50 years-old, white, Brazilian born and raised in São Paulo. I graduated in Publicity. I work consulting in a reputable company in the field. I love cooking and I love Leo.

Leo: I’m 33 years old, Brazilian born and raised in São Paulo. I graduated in Business Administration, and currently working in my own company. You can say I'm successful.

I currently live in São Paulo with my wife, who is my birth mother.

Appearance can be a bit tricky because of the great ethnic mix of the country. Although my birth mother is white, I inherited the color of my father, which is olive or tan. I’m 185cm (6'1"), 80kg (176lb), brown hair, honey eyes. Despite the differences, I am quite similar to her and in the past some people came to ask if we were siblings.

I like to go hiking with my wife. Actually, I like anything with her. I like music, sports, video games, comics, books, movies. I love dogs and cats.

Polyandry Is an Option

When people hear the word "polygamy," they might automatically think about patriarchal polygyny, which is the subset of polygamy which involves having multiple wives. There are, however, multiple forms of polygamy, including polyandry. Polyandry involves having multiple husbands. In some places, it is traditional, and usually includes brothers.

An article at legit.ng notes, unfortunately while seeming to use "polygamy" when it really means "polygyny," "5 places where women were allowed to have more than one husband"...

1. Nigeria The Irigwe people living on the western edge of Plateau, Jos are a unique people numbering around 17,000. This small group of people are known to be ardent subscribers of polyandry and it comes as no surprise as their distinctive language and social traditions sets them apart from neighbouring tribes. The Irigwe people of Nigeria practiced polyandry for many decades until it was voted to outlaw in 1968. Prior to that women were allowed to have 'co-husbands' and moved freely from one man's house to another, having multiple spouses, and their children’s paternity was assigned to the husband whose house the woman lived in at the time.

The article then goes on to name Kenya, India, China, and Brazil.

Traditional or not, an adult, regardless of gender, should be free to share love, sex, residence, and marriage (and any of those without the others) with any and all consenting adults. As such, anyone who wants to be married to multiple husbands should be truly free to be in such relationships. There is no good reason to deny such basic rights.

Is Brazil the Best For Polycules?

Brazil shows promise of actually moving to full marriage equality, as we've noted before. Here's an article written by Thiago Amonico and translated by Tom Gatehouse about a polyamorous relationship...

Audhrey loved Eustáquio, who loved Rita, who loved Audhrey. The three decided to live together eight years ago and today they are a family.

Good for them.

This is not a shorter, happier and more liberal version of the famous Carlos Drummond de Andrade poem "Quadrilha". Rather, it is the story of a family from Belo Horizonte that a year ago obtained a polyamorous civil partnership - official recognition of their situation. At least eight such documents have been issued in Brazil.

Good for Brazil.

Here are the particulars of this relationship...

Audhrey Drummond, 49, and Eustáquio Generoso, 57, got married in 1988 and had an on-off relationship until 1997. During that time they had a son, Iago, who is 23.

A year after they split up, Eustáquio began seeing Rita Carvalho, 45. But when Audhrey and Eustáquio met again in 2003, Audhrey admitted that she was still in love with him. "I told him that I didn't mind if Rita was in the picture," she says.

This is not a triangular relationship, but a ménage à trois, with Eustáquio living with both his wife and his mistress. He has his own room, with the women sleeping with him for a week at a time.

If that works for them, great!

The public notary Fernanda Leitão believes that they are supported by a 2011 Supreme Court decision which equated homosexual civil partnerships with heterosexual marriage.

It's very simple. Let all consenting adults have the relationships to which they mutually agree, and let all consenting adults have access to whatever legal unions their government has. There's no good reason to deny people these rights.

Brazilian Triad Makes News

We're getting more indication that Brazil may lead the way to full marriage equality. We've written about this possibility before. More recent developments are noted by María Martín in this article at elpais.com about a polyamorous triad.

Polygamous marriage has been featured in a Brazilian soap opera / 'Avenida Brasil' / tv globo

A businesswoman, a female dentist and a female administrative manager have managed to turn the idea of a traditional Brazilian family on its head, after recently making their relationship official before a notary in Rio de Janeiro.

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“We are a family and our union is the product of our love for one another,” said the businesswoman in an interview with the O Globo daily.

Good for them! Congratulations!

“I am going to get pregnant and we are preparing for this, including looking at it in financial terms. This legalization [of the union] is a way to prevent the baby, and us, from being left unprotected by the law,” one of the three brides told the press.

So they are thinking ahead. We could use more of that!

Brazil’s top courts have not ruled on the legality of these types of plural unions, so each case is based on decisions made by local authorities.

It would be nice if the matter was clearly established nationwide sooner rather than later.

In Rio, a regular congress has been held throughout the years – entitled Poliencontro – where polygamy and its effects on society are discussed and events organized for the public. A popular telenovela (soap opera) in Brazil has also featured a polygamous wedding between three women.

Since 2000, Freitas has registered scores of gay partnerships, even before they were officially legalized by the Supreme Court. She said that she had waited for years “with anxiety” so that she could finally register a trio in her notary office.

Nobody should have to wait any longer.

According to the last figures compiled in 2013 by the Brazilian Geographic and Statistics Institute (IBEG), new types of families (single mothers, fathers raising their children alone, childless couples and same-sex partnerships) account for 56.1% of Brazilian households.

"New types of families?" I hope that's just bad translation. Families like this have always existed.

So now we'll see if Brazil will beat other countries to full marriage equality. National leaders around the world should step up and remove the foul chains of bigotry as soon as possible. There is no good reason to delay. Meanwhile, we wish these women all happiness in their life together and congratulate them on their polyamorous home.

The Boy From Brazil

Two different Friends of Full Marriage Equality alerted me to a likely Genetic Sexual Attraction case that has made news. Here's one version, found at news.com.au...

Picture: Radio Globo Source: Supplied

A Brazilian woman, who embarked on a public journey to find the mother who abandoned her at infancy, has discovered her ‘husband’ is also her half-brother.

This isn't the first time this has happened, and it is going to happen more and more.

The 39-year-old, identified only as Adriana, made the shocking connection during an interview with Radio Globo’s The Time Is Now program, where she was reunited with her long-lost mum Maria, the Mirror reports.

During the broadcast, Maria revealed she had another son named Leandro, whom she had also abandoned.

“I don’t believe that you’re telling me this. Leandro is my husband,” Adriana reportedly said.

What a way to find out!

The couple, who are not legally married, have been together for seven years.

If they had a registered marriage, some heartless bigot would probably invalidate it. Fortunately, consanguinamory is not a crime in Brazil, so at least they don't face prosecution for loving each other, as so many people do. 

Will Brazil Lead the Way in the West?

Hey Canada? Are you going to let Brazil beat you? Maybe by the time the Summer Olympics arrive there in a little over less than three years, Brazil will have full marriage equality.

It looks like Brazil will now have the same-gender freedom to marry nationwide.

Before this, though, anti-equality hate groups freaked out because a notary accepted a civil union between three people. So of course Brazil disappeared into the Atlantic Ocean. Only, it didn't. Not only did that not happen, but nobody was harmed. Here is the article from the BBC last August when that happened...

A notary in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo has sparked controversy by accepting a civil union between three people.

Public Notary Claudia do Nascimento Domingues has said the man and two women should be entitled to family rights.

She says there is nothing in law to prevent such an arrangement.

Good for her!

Nathaniel Santos Batista Junior, a jurist who helped draft the document, said the idea was to protect their rights in case of separation or death of a partner, Globo reports.

Ms Domingues, who is based in the Sao Paulo city of Tupa, said the move reflected the fact that the idea of a "family" had changed.

"We are only recognising what has always existed. We are not inventing anything."

Yay! The BBC did not quote anyone saying exactly what was wrong with this, just essentially saying they didn't personally like it.

Brazil has no laws against consanguinamory, so nationwide full marriage equality for all lovers should be possible. An adult, regardless of sexual orientation, gender, race, or religion, should be free to share love, sex, residence, and marriage with ANY and ALL consenting adults, and if civil unions or domestic partnerships are issued or registered by a government, LGBT and poly people and people in consanguinamorous relationships should have equal access to them.

Canadians, are you willing to fall behind Brazil? Will the US Supreme Court let an opportunity to take the lead slip by? The US state of Rhode Island could leap to the front of pack if the leaders there want to. Who will be first in the West to reach full marriage equality?

Another Ally For the Polygamous Freedom to Marry

I asked if Brazil will lead the way to full marriage equality. Responding to the same story, Jean Hannah Edelstein asked at guardian.co.uk, "Why shouldn't three people get married?"

Photograph: Stone/Getty Images

And yet as we shoehorn ourselves into two-by-two formation, we're not that good at keeping our promises: as Helen Croydon has pointed out, breaking the boundaries of monogamy is far from unusual. Plenty of marriages have three people in them. They're just not legal ones.

I know a beautiful triad, or thruple. They want to get married under the law, and they have a marriage better than anything else I've seen. Why are they denied?

The government can dictate that two people should be in a marriage, but it can't legislate what will make them feel happy or stable or emotionally complete together. And if we accept that, as we do every time we allow anyone the freedom to make a decision about who they'll marry, and furthermore allow them the freedom to call each other by execrable pet names in public, then does it not begin to seem strange, just a bit, that we do allow the government to dictate how many people are allowed to pledge to be together forever?

It is not just strange, it is cruel. Some people couldn't be monogamous if their life depended on it. If three or more people have formed a spousal relationship or multiple spousal relationships in a construct that works for them, why deny them their right to marry?

Is it possible that if we allowed more people to marry simultaneously that more marriages might be successful?

Yes!

Here's a very important point...

Legalisation wouldn't send stampedes of people to the registry office in five-aside squads; for many of us, monogamy does feel the most comfortable option, whether it's because our brains aren't wired to love more than one person or because the prospect of making multiple people happy is too complex. But three's not a crowd for everyone. And as long as everyone is entering a marriage equally, as long as everyone is really going to make an effort to be open and honest to everyone else, it's probably not the government's job to tell them how many of them there should be.

Thank you! Thank you!!! It is great that more and more people are seeing that both the same-gender freedom to marry and the polygamous freedom to marry are good things. These rights should not be denied. This is why we will have full marriage equality.