Yesterday I got a phone call from my fellow blogger Marcos over at Carioca Virtual about his friend José Ávila, who is currently facing a legal battle to maintain possession of his assets after the loss of his partner Fábio earlier this year.

Even though the couple were together for almost ten years, right after Fábio passed away, José Ávila found himself locked out of his own apartment by his partner's family. He was also accused of transferring money from the couple's joint account to his personal account, even though he had legal proof that the transfer had been done with his partner's consent prior to his death. Thanks to his team of lawyers, and to the surprisingly progressive gay right laws of his home state of Rio Grande do Sul, on March 12th José regained possession of the apartment he shared with Fábio, and was appointed the treasurer of his assets. However, Fábio's family was unhappy with this decision, and José is now facing a long trial in which he will have to prove that he and Fábio were actually a couple, and that has the rights to everything that the two of them built together over the years.

Because I want to see changes in my country's legal system so that I never have to go through what José is going through, I decided to do my part and ask for your help in this matter. If you are living in Brazil or visiting in the next few weeks, I would like to ask you to take your time and sign a petition that my fellow Brazilian bloggers have put together on behalf of José Ávila, which will be used in the trial. It is now available at FOCH stores in São Paulo, Rio, and Curitiba.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this. I will keep you updated on the case as it progresses.