BY NATASHA BARSOTTI – A Brazilian public notary has granted what she calls uniao poliafetiva — her English translation of the term being "polyfidelitous union" — to three people, a man and two women, who "live together, love one another as equals and are like any other non-married cohabiting couple," CNN reports.
Claudia do Nascimento Domingues registered the three as a "stable union," which accords all the benefits of a marriage, recognizing them as "a family entity for public legal purposes," the report says.
But some are saying the union does not have legal standing, pointing out that Brazilian law defines marriage as being between two people, not three or more. CNN quotes Regina Beatriz Tavares da Silva, of the family law committee of a Sao Paulo lawyers' association, as saying that the union "goes directly against the constitution."
In another statement, the director of the Brazilian Institute of Family Law, Rolf Madaleno, says the unprecedented union is "proof that there is a plurality of familiar relations, though not all deserve judicial or legal standing."
But Domingues, who studies polyfidelitous relationships, says such relationships are not new, "they just haven't been recognized." She told CNN her research examines how people can love more than one person at a time.
Other polyfidelitous groups have apparently reached out to her looking for official recognition of their relationships.
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