Brazil Party Challenges Ruling on Gay Marriage

BRASILIA, Brazil -- A conservative party is challenging a judicial ruling that requires all of Brazil's notary publics to register same-sex civil unions as marriages if couples request it.

Last week, the National Council of Justice that oversees the country's judiciary said notary publics cannot refuse to marry gay couples or convert a same-sex civil union into a marriage if that's what the pair wants.

The Social Christian Party filed its appeal Tuesday with the Supreme Court arguing that the council's ruling was unconstitutional because Congress has not approved it.

One of the party's leaders is Congressman Marco Feliciano, an evangelical pastor who is president of the Commission for Human Rights and Minorities. He has said on his Twitter page that AIDS is a "gay cancer."