For an "advanced" country, we are so backward

From AP for November 27, via CNN:

SAO PAULO, Brazil -- A Brazilian court issued an unprecedented ruling giving a British man the right to a permanent visa based on his union with a Brazilian man, the couple said Wednesday. ...

They sought the injunction on the grounds that their union qualified in Brazil as a common-law marriage. ...

Lawyers for Harrad and Reis said Brazilian courts have recognized common-law marriages in cases of gay unions before but never for the purpose of obtaining a permanent visa.

In granting the petition, Federal Judge Ana Morozowski wrote: "Although they are of the same sex, the authors of the petition live in a state of matrimony, a fact which extends, to Mr. Harrad, the right of permanent residence."

Morozowski wrote that the basis of her decision was a provision in the 1988 Brazilian Constitution "prohibiting any form of discrimination, including discrimination as to sexual preference."

And just so we're clear on this, the "unprecedented" part was getting the injunction for the purpose of getting a permanent visa, not the gay marriage part.