Brazilian notary registers trio as civil union

BY NATASHA BARSOTTI – A Brazilian public notary has granted what she calls uniao poliafetiva — her English translation of the term being “polyfidelitous union” — to three people, a man and two women, who “live together, love one another as equals and are like any other non-married cohabiting couple,” CNN reports.

Claudia do Nascimento Domingues registered the three as a “stable union,” which accords all the benefits of a marriage, recognizing them as “a family entity for public legal purposes,” the report says.

But some are saying the union does not have legal standing, pointing out that Brazilian law defines marriage as being between two people, not three or more. CNN quotes Regina Beatriz Tavares da Silva, of the family law committee of a Sao Paulo lawyers’ association, as saying that the union “goes directly against the constitution.”

In another statement, the director of the Brazilian Institute of Family Law, Rolf Madaleno, says the unprecedented union is “proof that there is a plurality of familiar relations, though not all deserve judicial or legal standing.”

But Domingues, who studies polyfidelitous relationships, says such relationships are not new, “they just haven’t been recognized.” She told CNN her research examines how people can love more than one person at a time.

Other polyfidelitous groups have apparently reached out to her looking for official recognition of their relationships.

Image: MercoPress

Natasha Barsotti is originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She had high aspirations of representing her country in Olympic Games sprint events, but after a while the firing of the starting gun proved too much for her nerves. So she went off to university instead. Her first professional love has always been journalism. After pursuing a Master of Journalism at UBC , she began freelancing at Xtra West — now Xtra Vancouver — in 2006, becoming a full-time reporter there in 2008.

Keep Reading

The new generation of gay Conservative sellouts

OPINION: Melissa Lantsman’s and Eric Duncan’s refusals to call out their party’s transphobia is a betrayal of the LGBTQ2S+ community

Over 300 anti-LGBTQ2S+ bills have been introduced this year. This doesn’t mean we should panic

OPINION: While it’s important to watch out for threats, not all threats are created equally. Some of these bills will die a natural death

Xtra’s top LGBTQ2S+ stories of the year

The best and brightest—even most bewildering—stories from a back catalogue brimming with insight

Elon Musk and Texas attorney general Ken Paxton are suing Media Matters. Here’s why queer and trans people should care

OPINION: When politicians and the rich leverage the power of the state to quell dissent, we all lose