Court forces Revenue to remove “mother’s name” from CPF registration

The IRS will have to remove the “mother’s name” field and change it to “affiliation” on the CPF registration and rectification forms. It will also be mandatory to include the options “unspecified”, “non-binary” and “intersex” in the “sex” field, on the same forms. The changes are contained in a decision by the Federal Court in Curitiba, in a public civil action filed by entities defending sexual and gender diversity and representatives of the LGBTQIAPN+ community.

According to the authors of the action, by removing the option of including the mother’s name on the CPF form, the Union, and in particular the Federal Revenue Service, will safeguard the right of families with same-sex parenting. For these entities, assuming that there is a mother in the family bond is something based on a logic of heterocisnormative gender ideology – such a situation, the authors of the action claim, does not occur with children in a family with two parents.

The public civil action was filed by the National LGBTI+ Alliance, Grupo Dignidade, Brazilian Association of Homotransaffective Families (Abrafh), Brazilian Intersex Association (Abrai), Centro de Acolhida e Cultura Casa 1, National Articulation of Transgenders (Antra), Public Defender’s Office of the Union (DPU) and Federal Public Ministry (MPF). The National Association of Jurists for the Human Rights of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transvestites, Transsexuals, Transgenders and Intersex (Anajudh) is an Amicus Curiae.

The decision by federal judge Anne Karina Stipp Amador Costa, from the 5th Federal Court of Curitiba, met the request for recognition of the multiplicity of family arrangements and gender identities, as well as the condition of intersexuality. The IRS has 180 days to adapt the registration and rectification of the CPF, whether in person or online. The process is being carried out in secret from the courts, and an appeal can still be made.

According to the federal judge, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) recognizes same-sex unions as a family unit. Therefore, these cases require the same treatment given to families resulting from heteroaffective unions.

The adaptation of the Federal Revenue Service’s CPF registration and rectification forms to meet the request of representatives of the LGBTQIAPN+ community, according to Costa, is a form of respect for human dignity. For her, recognizing the multiplicity of family arrangements and gender identities, as well as the condition of intersexuality, guarantees the rights of personality, equality, freedom and self-determination.

“The State’s duty to recognize same-sex relationships, and consequently, same-sex parenting, in the most varied levels of action, is blatant. In this sense, the availability of data fields allowing the declaration of such situations, in public documents/registries, does not represent formalism, but an expression of dignified and equal treatment, without discriminating against the sexual orientation of individuals”, reinforced the judge.

The adequacy of Federal Revenue forms is not new, the federal judge pointed out. Bodies such as the Federal Police and registry offices, when drawing up birth certificates, no longer have the “mother’s name” field. Therefore, Costa highlighted, the need to adapt the CPF is also evident, a document that according to the judge has centrality and importance in the life of Brazilian citizens.

The change in birth and death certificates dates back to 2017. That year, the National Council of Justice, through Provision No. 63, recognized the continuous, public and lasting union between people of the same sex as a family. Therefore, references to maternal or paternal ancestry were removed, leaving only the “affiliation” field.