By The Associated PressBrazilian notaries public must register same-intercourse civil unions as marriages if the couple requests it, the country's National Council of Justice said Tuesday.
The council that oversees the country's judiciary said in a statement that notaries public cannot refuse to marry gay couples or convert a same-intercourse civil union into a marriage if that's what the pair wants.
The council based its decision on a 2011 Supreme Court ruling that recognized same-intercourse civil unions. The court said at the time that gay couples are entitled to same legal rights as heterointercourseual pairs when it comes to alimony, retirement benefits of a partner who dies and inheritances, among other issues.
Those opposed to the council's ruling can file an appeal with the Supreme Court.
Fourteen of Brazil's 27 states so far have legalized same-same marriages.
Efforts in Congress to approve a bill legalizing gay marriage across the nation have been thwarted by conservative evangelical legislators.
Gay rights movements cheered the council's decision.
"It is a major step that will ensure equality among heterointercourseual and homointercourseual couples," Carlos Magno Fonseca, president of the Brazilian Lesbian, Gay, Biintercourseual and Transgender Association told reporters.
Last year, 1,277 same intercourse couples registered such civil unions with notaries public.