Overview

• In a unanimous decision, the STF annulled or suspended three municipal laws from Tubarão (SC), Petrolina (PE) and Garanhuns (PE) that barred references to gender and sexual orientation in schools.
• The court held the bans unconstitutional for usurping the Union’s competence over education directives and for infringing freedom of teaching, thought and academic pluralism.
• The justices jointly judged ADPF 466, filed by the Prosecutor General’s Office against Tubarão’s law, and ADPF 522, brought by PSOL against the Pernambuco measures.
• Minister Kássio Nunes Marques supported the result but cautioned that instruction should be age‑appropriate, while Alexandre de Moraes and Flávio Dino defended inclusive education and stressed that only federal law regulates curricula under the LDB.
• One of the Pernambuco laws also forbade related books in school libraries, and civil society participants such as Grupo Arco‑Íris and attorney Carlos Nicodemos argued the bans foster discrimination contrary to constitutional and international protections.