By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman
BRASILIA, August 22, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com)—The Brazilian Ministry of Health has announced that the government will begin to provide free sex-change operations to the public, in compliance with a government initiated court order.
The decision, rendered by Brazil’s Fourth Regional Federal Court, decreed that sex-change operations are a “right” covered by Brazil’s constitution, which guarantees “health care” to all citizens.
The approval of free sex change operations was largely a staged event by the socialist administration of Luiz Lula, who has been Brazil’s president since 2003. The administration essentially sued itself, using the Public Ministry (Brazil’s federal agency for prosecutions) to litigate the case against the administration’s Ministry of Health. The Fourth Regional Federal Court, also an entity of the national government, agreed unanimously to designate the operations as a “constitutional right”.
The government estimates that the cost of the surgery will be $1,000 per person. The government would face fines of $5,000 a day if it refused to comply. Federal officials announced that they would not appeal the ruling, and would begin providing the operations.
The only restrictions are that the candidate for the surgery must be over twenty-one years of age and undergo two years of psychological evaluation. The approval for the surgery will be made by regional and local secretaries of health.
The Ministry of Health estimates that over 1,000 people will opt for sex change surgery every year once it becomes available as a free “treatment”.
The new policy on sex change operations is yet another concession to homosexual special interest groups by the Lula administration, which is conducting a national campaign against what it calls “homophobia”, which according to its definition, can amount to almost any public opposition to homosexual behavior. It has also spent millions of dollars this year subsidizing the “gay pride parade” in Rio de Janeiro, which was noted for the numerous acts of violence that occurred between participants. The Lula administration has also promoted measures in the United Nations and the Organization of American States to declare homosexual sexual behavior as a protected “right”.
Previous LifeSiteNews coverage:
Brazilian Priests Could Face Jail-time for Saying that Homosexuality is a Sin
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/mar/07031904.html
Brazil-Backed Treaty Seeks to Make Homosexual Sex a ‘Human Right
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/dec/06121204.html
Brazil Judge Permits Homosexual Adoption
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jul/05071202.html