Brazilian President Call to Legalize Same Sex Marriage

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says it is time Congress acted to legalize same-sex unions.
Brazil is in the midst of elections and the popular president used the bully pulpit in a TV interview this week to chastise Congress. A proposed law that would give same-sex couples rights equal to those enjoyed by married opposite-sex couples has been stalled in Brazil’s Congress for more than a decade.
“There are men living with men, and women living with women [who] build a good life together,” the President said in an interview on the government-run TV Brazil.
Da Silva also said that politicians who oppose same-sex unions and yet seek the votes of gay men and women are “hypocrites.”
Earlier this year, he called LGBT civil rights leaders to a precedent setting summit to discuss gay rights legislation and battling homophobia. The meeting involved representatives from the president’s office, cabinet members and legislators.