Supreme Federal Court (Brazil) | Good News For Humankind

Brazil court grants gender-neutral ID in historic victory

By Peter Schulte / May 9, 2025 / Good news links

A nonbinary person in Brazil has been granted official documents with a neutral gender marker for the first time in a unanimous court decision. The case involves a person who originally requested to be recognized as male on their official documents after starting hormone replacement therapy, but later regretted this decision and appealed to the Supreme Court of Justice in Brasilia. According to the AP, the case represents the first time that someone in Brazil has been able to get gender-neutral official documents in the country.

Brazilian judge orders seizure of illegally cleared lands in the Amazon

By Peter Schulte / April 29, 2025 / Good news links

Justice Flávio Dino of the Brazilian Supreme Court has directed the government to seize private lands where forests have been illegally razed. By one estimate, more than half of the forest lost in the Brazilian Amazon has been on private lands. The ruling also calls for halting the process known as regularization, by which land grabbers are granted title to stolen lands, even when they have illegally destroyed forest on those lands. The decision, which may be appealed, further requires the government to seek compensation from landowners who have destroyed forest.

Brazil makes homophobic hate speech punishable by prison

By Peter Schulte / August 27, 2023 / Good news links

Brazil’s Supreme Court has ruled with a vote of 9-1 that homophobic hate speech is on par with racial hate speech and punishable with a prison sentence of two to five years.

Brazil’s High Court first to declare Paris Agreement a human rights treaty

By Peter Schulte / July 7, 2022 / Good news links

As a result of the ruling, if Brazil’s Congress passes a law that conflicts with the Paris Agreement, the Paris Agreement should take precedence.