BRAZIL: Gay Man Wins Paternity Leave

For the first time ever, a Brazilian court has granted paternity leave to a gay man who just adopted a child with his partner.

Normally Brazilian fathers are only given five days off work after becoming parents, while mothers receive four months off, but a Brazilian court found that it was discriminatory for a gay couple to receive less combined parental leave than a heterosexual couple. As a result Lucimar da Silva will become the first Brazilian man to receive the same parental leave as a woman. Brazil’s social security agency has agreed to honor the decision. ‘However unusual it may seem to grant maternity leave to a male person … this hypothesis is possible when the father takes care of the newborn,’ the agency told Brazilian TV network O Globo.

Unfortunately this decision does not set precedent and future applicants will also have to go to court to earn paternity leave.