In defense of love, families, and diversity.

The article "Attempts to Destroy the Brazilian Family," published on the Estadão portal and authored by Regina Beatriz Tavares da Silva, president of the Association of Family and Succession Law (ADFAS), incorrectly cites a bill (PL 3369/2015, Statute of 21st Century Families) of mine, stating that the proposal encourages a "polygamous relationship as a family entity."

The author argues that all forms and paths of love should be hermetically defined, which does not reflect today's reality. My proposal focuses on defending all forms of love and recognizing all forms of family, establishing minimum principles for state action regarding family relations.

For some time now, family has been recognized not only by criteria of consanguinity – that is, father and daughter or mother and son – genetic descent, or union between people of different or the same sex. Families today are formed through LOVE, through socio-affectivity, true criteria for people to unite and remain as a family unit. An example of this is when children end up being raised by uncles or aunts, grandparents, or even when they are adopted by other families, or when same-sex couples form a family.

Thus, it is the State's responsibility to formally recognize any dignified and loving form of family union, regardless of criteria such as gender, sexual orientation, consanguinity, religion, race, or any other factor that may obstruct the legitimate will of people who wish to form a family.

My proposal aims to account for the diversity that has always existed in society throughout history. The complexity of social relations today and the pressing need to promote a new form of coexistence, based on a culture of peace, solidarity, and especially respect for the dignity of the human person, according to premises of equal respect and consideration, compels us to reject any initiative that tends to ignore the heterogeneity and diversity of forms of family organization.

I would like to point out that the position defended by the author converges with that of another bill (Bill 6583/13, known as the Family Statute) which attempts to define what can be considered a family in Brazil, that is, it imposes legal rules so that only one type of group of people is considered a family unit.

This position contradicts a decision by the Supreme Federal Court (STF), which has already recognized same-sex unions as family units like any other. The rationale for this decision can be found in Article 1.723 of the Civil Code, which excludes "any meaning that prevents the recognition of a continuous, public, and lasting union between persons of the same sex as a family entity, understood as a perfect synonym for family. This recognition must be made according to the same rules and with the same consequences as a heterosexual stable union."

By defining only the union between a man and a woman as a family, the conservative Family Statute delegitimizes same-sex unions. We cannot confine society to the dogmas of one religion or another, or one opinion or another. The State is secular and it must recognize the diversity that exists in the country and guarantee its free expression.

I defend the freedom of opinion of any citizen, as it is part of the process and builds our diversity and democracy. I do not believe in proposals that create formats or even dictate what the natural standard of things should be.

Society is not static; it reorganizes and reshapes itself from time to time, and imposing a way of life, a culture, a way of seeing the world will not contribute in any way to the social configuration we witness today.