A gay Brazilian man has become the first man to be given equal parental leave to a mother after he and his civil union partner adopted a baby.

Normally Brazilian fathers are only given five days off work after becoming parents, while mothers receive four months off, but a Brazilian court found that it was discriminatory for a gay couple to receive less combined parental leave than a heterosexual couple.

As a result Lucimar da Silva will become the first Brazilian man to receive the same parental leave as a woman.

Braizil’s social security agency has agreed to honor the decision.

‘However unusual it may seem to grant maternity leave to a male person … this hypothesis is possible when the father takes care of the newborn,’ the agency told Brazilian TV network O Globo.

However the ruling did not set a precedent, so other male same-sex couples in Brazil will have to go to court to receive the same leave.

In comparison, both parents in lesbian couples in Brazil currently receive four months leave each.

The ruling comes as a result of a Brazilian Supreme Court decision in May last year which found that same-sex couples in civil unions should be entitled to all of the same entitlements as same-sex couples.

LGBT rights campaigner and fashion designer Carlos Tufvesson told the Guardian newspaper that he welcomed the decision but said there was more work to be done still in Brazil.

‘With this decision for Da Silva, our rights as citizens are more recognized by the state,’ Tufvesson said.

‘As gay activists we don’t fight to gain any special rights. We are fighting to have the same rights as any other citizen and our constitution is very clear when it states that every citizen is equal before the law.’