Gay Marriage Authorized Nationwide in Brazil

Brazil's top judicial panel has authorized notaries to begin approving same-sex marriages nationwide, AFP reports:

The National Council of Justice, which oversees the Brazilian judicial system and is headed by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, said government offices that issue marriage licenses had no standing to reject gay couples.

The Supreme Court "affirmed that the expression of homosexuality and homosexual affection cannot serve as a basis for discriminatory treatment, which has no support in the Constitution," said Chief Justice Joaquim Barbosa on the council's website, referring to a 2011 ruling by the top court.

Barbosa also said there was no reason for the government's marriage licensing offices to wait for the Brazilian Congress to pass a law authorising same-sex marriage.

For those of you who read Portuguese or want to use a translator, here's the main article from Brazil's G1 Globo.

The decision by the NCJ can be appealed to the Supreme Court.

Several Brazilian states had already legalized same-sex marriage - Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraná, Mato Grosso do Sul, Espírito Santo, Bahia, Alagoas, Sergipe, Piauí, Ceará. and The Federal District, but this ruling appears to extend legal authorization to all the other states.

Rio de Janeiro Becomes Latest Brazilian State to Allow Gay Marriage

Rio de Janeiro has become the latest Brazilian state to authorize same-sex marriage after the General Magistrate of Justice of Rio published a provision today allowing it, MixBrasil reports.

The other Brazilian states to allow it are São Paulo, Paraná, Mato Grosso do Sul, Espírito Santo, Bahia, Alagoas, Sergipe, Piauí, Ceará. The Federal District allows it as well.

Wingsuited Daredevils Dive Into Rio, Fly Between Skyscrapers: VIDEO

Ludovic Woerth and Jokke Sommer dive from gliders into Rio de Janeiro, landing in a park behind the 38-story Ventura Corporate Towers after flying between its double skyscrapers (at the top of the image below).

Wrote Sommer: "Ludovic and I doing a wingsuit flight into Rio de Janeiro. We did not have permission to fly into the city, but to respect the commercial air traffic we did the jump 05:45 in the morning. The first flights arrive at 06:05."

Watch (full-screen and HD if possible), AFTER THE JUMP...

That's one way to arrive in Brazil.

Gay Marriage Proposal Video of the Day: Gabriel and Daniel

Daniel and Gabriel are a young Brazilian couple. Daniel decided to propose to Gabriel last week and enlisted a few friends to help him.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

And if you missed out Valentine's round-up of our favorite gay wedding videos, check it out HERE.

Don't miss our other recent Gay Wedding videos...
Gay Wedding Video of the Day: Jackson and Kwesi [tlrd]
Gay Wedding Video of the Day: David and TreDarrius [tlrd]
Gay Wedding Video of the Day: Patrick and Sébastien [tlrd]
Gay Wedding Video of the Day: Randy and Allen [tlrd]
Gay Wedding Video of the Day: Jason and Tony at the Plaza [tlrd]

Forecast: Mostly Cloudy, 90 Percent Chance of Spiders - VIDEO

If you woke up this morning to find a couple feet of snow outside your door, just be thankful it wasn't thousands of large spiders instead. This Hitchcockian scene comes from the southern Brazilian town of Santo Antônio da Platina.

Gawker writes:

Brazilian news portal G1 reports that this footage was captured by 20-year-old web designer Erick Reis as he was leaving a friend's engagement party this past Sunday.

G1 spoke with a local biologist who identified the spider as Anelosimus eximius — a "social spider" species known for its massive colonies and "sheet webs." He characterized the phenomenon as "normal," which it most certainly is not.

Watch (arachnophobes beware), AFTER THE JUMP...

At Least 232 People Dead After Fire At Night Club In Brazil

Simply horrific news out of Santa Maria, Brazil, where pyrotechnics are blamed for a night club fire that left at least 232 people, mostly college students, dead. Most of the deaths are reportedly from smoke inhalation as as many as 2,000 panicked patrons tried to escape.

From USA Today:

The facility was hosting an event for a local university. Most of the attendees were students of that school, the Federal University of Santa Maria.

Television images showed smoke pouring out of the nightclub as shirtless, young male partygoers joined firefighters in wielding axes and sledgehammers, pounding at windows and walls to break through to those trapped inside. Teenagers sprinted from the scene desperately trying to find help — others carried injured and burned friends away in their arms.

"There was so much smoke and fire, it was complete panic and it took a long time for people to get out, there were so many dead," survivor Luana Santos Silva told the Globo TV network.

According to CNN's report, the club was an estimated 1,000 people over capacity.