Brazil’s transgenders allowed to use social names in voting

SAO PAULO – Brazilian transgenders and transvestites don’t have to use the formal names on their identification cards to vote in October’s general election, relying instead on social names they have chosen for themselves.

Brazil’s top electoral court announced the decision Monday.

Court chairman Justice Luiz Fux says the measure aims at respecting differences and allowing citizens to express themselves without any prejudice. Fux says on the court’s website that “every voter has the right to be identified as he or she sees himself or herself.”

In the elections, Brazilians will choose a new president, all 513 members of the Chamber of Deputies, two-thirds of the 81 senators and 27 governors.

The first round of the presidential vote will be Oct. 7. The likely runoff will be Oct. 28.