Former Chicago couple wins unprecedented Brazilian victory

Former Chicago couple wins unprecedented Brazilian victory
By Amy Wooten
Copyright by The Chicago Free Press
July 30, 2009
http://www.chicagofreepress.com/node/3752


A few years ago, a binational gay couple was forced to leave Chicago and move to Brazil, just so they could be together. Their story, unfortunately, is hardly unique. But the couple just won an unprecedented court ruling in Brazil that they hope serves as a wake up call to folks back in the U.S.

Late last month, U.S. citizen and former Chicagoan Chris Bohlander won the right to live permanently in Brazil with his partner, Zemir Magalhaes, The couple left Chicago three years ago to live together in Goiânia, Goiás, a state in central Brazil. Last month, a Brazilian judge allowed Bohlander to obtain a permanent residency visa—which is normally only given to the foreign spouse of a Brazilian—based on their civil union, which was recognized by a Goiás judge last year. While the government can appeal the decision, the favorable decision is seen as a huge victory for them and GLBT Brazilians.

The couple first met in Brazil. In 1998, the two moved in together in Chicago. Eventually, they were able to secure a visa so Magalhaes could stay. But a few years back, when Magalhaes’ status was ready to expire, the two decided it was best to move to Brazil, where they thought it would be easy for Bohlander to obtain a green card.

Bohlander moved to Brazil with hope. He believed that a recent Rio Grande do Sul ruling in favor of a same-sex binational couple set a precedent. Little did he know that in Brazil, the precedent must be set over and over again.

“I was really surprised to have the same problems here in Brazil,” Bohlander said.

Magalhaes said that after his partner’s visa expired, the couple faced a lot of difficulty. Bohlander couldn’t drive, and the couple was always afraid of his being discovered by authorities, which would mean immediate deportation for Bohlander.

“We were always afraid the police would stop us,” Magalhaes said. “We were living in fear.”

During this time period, the couple reached out to the local GLBT community for answers, but found none, even from GLBT activists and lawyers. Used to the well-organized, close-knit Chicago GLBT community, they were shocked.

While Brazil has a reputation for being an open-minded environment, in part because São Paulo, Brazil, is home to the world’s largest Pride Parade, drawing close to 3.5 million people each year, the couple says Brazil is far from that.

“The cultures are so different,” Bohlander said, adding that the area they live in is very conservative.

Magalhaes said many GLBTs are deeply closeted, fearing that their families will find out their sexuality and reject them. And while Brazil recognizes legal same-sex unions performed abroad for immigration purposes and the southern state of Rio Grande do Dul offers civil unions, the country, as a whole, has a long way to go in terms of GLBT rights. For instance, Brazil has astonishingly high rates of hate crimes against GLBT people.

“Gays and lesbians just hide,” said Magalhaes, who is originally from the western state of Mato Grosso, Brazil.

So when the couple turned to GLBT Brazilian activists, not a single one knew what to do to help the duo stay together. They knew that another binational couple had success by bribing the government, but for Bohlander and Magalhaes, they found that option to be not only deplorable, but also financially unrealistic.

Luckily, a brave and hard-working 28-year-old lawyer, Yuri de Oliveira Pinheiro Valente, stepped forward and took on the case.

“He’s the only one who would take our case,” Bohlander said, adding that the attorney “was just young enough and inexperienced enough to not know any better.”

Valente was able to get the couple’s union recognized in May 2008, and in October 2008, filed a request for Bohlander to obtain a permanent residency visa based on the couple’s civil union.

In Brazil, the couple’s victory is seen as a huge deal, especially because the ruling is based on the fundamental rights and protections guaranteed all Brazilians under the country’s constitution. While they aren’t the first binational couple to receive a favorable ruling, the wording in this case is unprecedented.

Bohlander and Magalhaes are very pleased that the ruling has made such a splash in Brazilian media. “We want to make a big noise,” Bohlander said, “because we want others to do it, too.”

Magalhaes, who knows the community’s silence all too well, hopes that more couples come forward and choose to live openly and fight for their relationship. “I hope the gay community here in Brazil can fight more for their rights,” he said. “Right now, they are afraid to even come out. But we have them the first step. I hope we set an example.”

The couple would like to visit the States again, but said it’s not financially possible right now. Bohlander said the two would prefer to live in Chicago, which they both miss terribly.

“I hope people read about us and think, ‘What’s wrong with this picture? Why should an American move all the way to Brazil just to be with his family?’” Bohlander said. “I hope things change in the U.S. so someday we can come home.”