Decision complied with a request from the Brazilian Association of Homotransaphive Families (ABRAFH); Judgment occurred in the Virtual Plenary
The (STF) unanimously decided to apply to homosexual couples formed by men and transsexual women. Sanctioned in 2006, the Maria da Penha Law provides for measures to combat domestic violence. Originally, the legislation was created thinking about the protection of women victims of aggression in the family environment.
The Supreme Court has defined that “all types of family entities” must be protected by law. In the case of transvestites and transsexuals, the interpretation of the ministers is that the legislation applies to all women with female social identity, that is, both for female and female gender. Minister Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur of the process, argued in the vote that “external physical conformation is only one but not the only one of the characteristics defining of the genre.”
“I understand that, regardless of women’s sexual orientation, the special protection of the law applies to both women victims of domestic violence and lesbians, transvestite and transgender female social identity that maintain a relationship of affection in a family environment,” the minister wrote. In the case of homosexual couples formed by men, the Supreme Court has understood that there is often in these relations a dynamic of subordination that reproduces violence of heterosexual relations. The ministers applied the concept of “sociological idea of gender”, which has to do with social differentiation between the roles of men and women.
“Considering that the Maria da Penha Law was edited to protect women against domestic violence, from the understanding of women’s cultural subordination in society, it is possible to extend the incidence of the norm to homosexual couples, if contextual factors are present that The man victim of violence in the position of subordination within the relationship, ”voted Moraes.
The Federal Supreme Court concluded that there is omission by the National Congress to legislate on the subject, which in the assessment of ministers can generate a gap in protection and punishment against domestic violence. The decision complied with a request from the Brazilian Association of Homotransaphive Families (Abrafh). The trial occurred in the virtual plenary.
Posted by Luisa Cardoso
*With information from Estadão Content
