Brazil's Supreme Court
has voted overwhelmingly in favour of allowing same-sex couples the same
legal rights as married heterosexuals.
The decision was approved by 10-0 with one abstention.
The ruling will give gay couples in "stable" partnerships the
same financial and social rights enjoyed by those in heterosexual
relationships.
Brazil is the world's most populous Roman Catholic nation and has an estimated 60,000 gay couples.
The ruling makes Brazil one of very few South American
nations, after Argentina and Uruguay, to allow gay unions with benefits
similar to those afforded a heterosexual married couple.
"The freedom to pursue one's own sexuality is part of an
individual's freedom of expression," said Justice Carlos Ayres Britto,
the author of the ruling.
Gay activists welcomed the decision, saying it marked an "historic day" for the country.
"The degree of civilisation of a country can be measured by
the way people in a nation treat their homosexual community," Claudio
Nascimento, head of Rio de Janeiro state's Gay, Lesbian and Transsexuals
Committee said, according to O Globo.
From now on same sex couples will be able to register their
civil partnerships with solicitors and public bodies, giving them proper
inheritance and pension rights.
However, the landmark ruling stops short of recognising gay marriage, which could involve public or religious ceremonies.
Brazil's Roman Catholic Church had argued against the
decision to allow civil unions, saying the only union referred to within
Brazil's constitution was that between a man and a woman.
But the country's recently elected President Dilma Rousseff has made the issue one of her big social policy reforms.