RIO DE JANEIRO, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Rio's State Governor Sergio Cabral on Monday asked the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court (STF) to grant civil union rights to public servants with homosexual partners in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

    The benefits include health assistance, social security and paid time off.

    The governor argued that denying those rights to same-sex couples was a type of sexual discrimination, which violates "in a straightforward way a significant group of fundamental principles" such as dignity, equality and freedom.

    Such refusal also harms the juridical security principle because there have been contradictory decisions by court judges on the matter in the country, he said.

    The governor also asked the STF to validate administrative decisions made by the state government that gave homosexuals equal civil union rights and to suspend lawsuits and court decisions against them.