From LGBT Governor Wanting Top Job in Brazil to Switzerland Allowing Gay Marriage, This Week in Int’l LGBT News – SouthFloridaGayNews.com
This week read about Gov. Eduardo Leite becoming a presidential candidate in Brazil, and Switzerland voting to allow gay marriage in the country.
LGBT Governor In Brazil Wants Top Job
The 36-year-old governor of a conservative state who recently came out as LGBT is the presidential candidate chosen by investors in what is turning out to be a contentious and nasty election campaign in Brazil.
According to Bloomberg, Eduardo Leite rode President Jair Bolsonaro’s right-wing wave to power in 2018, wooing financial markets with a fiscal austerity and privatization agenda in the Rio Grande do Sul’s southern state, which borders Argentina and Uruguay. His task now is to raise awareness of himself among the general public, who have mostly never heard of him, beginning with Brazilians who oppose both the incumbent and his leftist opponent, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
He treads a thin line. Despite his criticisms of Bolsonaro, he voted for him. He also stated that, while he supports equality, he would not advocate for LGBT rights.
“Leite is a very plausible name, and one of the most viable names for a ‘third way,'” says Deysi Cioccari, a political science professor at the Catholic University of Sao Paulo.
Switzerland Votes To Allow Gay Marriage
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With 64% in favor, it became one of the last Western European nations to legalize same-sex marriage.
Campaigners have praised the vote as a watershed event for the country’s LGBT rights.
Church organizations and conservative political parties rejected the concept in the run-up to the election, claiming it would jeopardize the traditional family.
According to BBC, Switzerland has allowed same-sex couples to register partnerships since 2007, but some rights are restricted.
The measure will allow same-sex couples to adopt unrelated children and for married lesbian couples to have children through sperm donation.
It makes Switzerland the 30th country in the world to adopt same-sex marriage.
“It is a historic day for Switzerland, a historic day when it comes to equality for same-sex couples, and it is also an important day for the whole LGBT community,” said Jan Muller of the “yes” campaign committee.