The best interest of the child and the “lesser evil”: when the candidates are gay

Abstract

Brazilian legislation after the 1988 Constitution considers that a family is composed of any of the parents and children, regardless of whether the parents are biological or adoptive or if they are married or single. The homosexuality of the parents, which might be mentioned in the professional appraisals of psychologists or social workers, has not impeded adoptions. Since 2005, a same-sex couple may adopt and have the child’s birth certificate issued in the name of both adopting parents. Judges and public attorneys increasingly favour applicants who declare themselves gay. Despite these tendencies, law practitioners structure their arguments around a discourse of the “lesser evil”. In this article, we discuss if this situation can be understood as a combination of the figures Michel Foucault described in The Abnormal.