On 6 December 2011, Judge James Magalhães de Medeiros of the Alagoas Judicial Administrative Department (Corregedoria Geral de Justiça do Estado de Alagoas) instructed the state's civil registry offices to process marriage applications from same-sex couples in an identical manner to opposite-sex couples.[3][4][5][6] The decision, known as "Provision N° 40", came into effect upon publication on 7 December 2011.[6] This made Alagoas the first state in Brazil to open
marriage to same-sex couples.[7][8]Civil unions have been legally performed and recognized nationwide, including in Alagoas, since May 2011 in accordance with a ruling from the
Supreme Federal Court.[9]
On 17 January 2012, a male couple who had been together for almost 25 years became the second same-sex couple to marry in the state, and the first to do so since the new ruling. In July 2011, a lesbian couple was able to have their civil union converted into a marriage by a
judge in
Maceió.[10]