Casamento lésbico chega ao TC

De recurso em recurso até ao Tribunal Constitucional, 1 ano e 4 meses. Quem se lembra de tanta celeridade judicial? Eu não me lembro, e só espero que esta rapidez não resulte numa "fast justice" à la McDonald's. O Luís Grave Rodrigues põe os pontos nos i's de algo que seria simples e básico se não houvesse tanta gente com prazer em complicar tudo, sobretudo a vida alheia... Era mesmo bom que o TC fizesse valer o seu papel de guardião da constituição e não descambasse numa sentença escrita ao sabor dos interesses político-partidários, porque nesse caso já sabemos qual será.

Dadas as semelhanças constitucionais, a decisão do Tribunal Constitucional da África do Sul torna-se de leitura obrigatória, uma amostra:

«The exclusion of same-sex couples from the benefits and responsibilities of marriage was not a small and tangential inconvenience resulting from a few surviving relics of societal prejudice destined to evaporate like the morning dew. It represented a harsh if oblique statement by the law that same-sex couples are outsiders, and that their need for affirmation and protection of their intimate relations as human beings is somehow less than that of heterosexual couples. It signifies that their capacity for love, commitment and accepting responsibility is by definition less worthy of regard than that of heterosexual couples. The intangible damage to same-sex couples is as severe as the material deprivation. They are not entitled to celebrate their commitment to each other in a joyous public event recognised by the law. They are obliged to live in a state of legal blankness in which their unions remain unmarked by the showering of presents and the commemoration of anniversaries so celebrated in our culture. (...)

In the open and democratic society contemplated by the Constitution there must be mutually respectful co-existence between the secular and the sacred. The function of the Court is to recognise the sphere which each inhabits, not to force the one into the sphere of the other. The objective of the Constitution is to allow different concepts about the nature of human existence to inhabit the same public realm, and to do so in a manner that is not mutually destructive and that at the same time enables government to function in a way that shows equal concern and respect for all.»