Cuba votes to legalise same-sex marriage

Cubans have voted to legalise same-sex marriage in a historic referendum on Sunday to adopt a new constitutional family code.

According to the National Electoral Council, 66.9% of voters chose to approve the progressive legislation which now defines marriage as “the consensual union between two people” without specifying the sex of the couple.

The 100-page family code not only legalises marriage equality but also makes provisions for same-sex adoption and surrogate pregnancies and provides more protection for women, children and the elderly.

President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, who supported the revised family code, welcomed the public’s approval of the legislation.

“Justice has been done,” he tweeted. “Approving the [Family Code] is doing justice. It is paying off a debt with several generations of Cuban men and women, whose family projects have been waiting for this Law for years. Starting today, we will be a better nation.”

Bermudez added that “Love is now the law.” As far back as 2018, he has called for marriage “without any restrictions” and “any kind of discrimination”.

Cuba has a dark history when it comes to LGBTIQ+ rights. In the 1960s, LGBTIQ+ people were persecuted after the revolution, including being forced into labour camps to “correct” their “deviations”.

Homosexuality was finally decriminalised in 1979 and LGBTIQ+ people are now protected from discrimination in employment and the provision of services.

In 2010, Cuba’s former leader, Fidel Castro, expressed regret for the post-revolution crackdown on LGBTIQ+ people while he was in power, calling it “a great injustice, great injustice!”

Castro’s niece, Mariela, the Director of the National Center for Sex Education and a longtime LGBTIQ+ activist, was thrilled with the vote in favour of the new family code.

“Now love is law on the island of freedom #Cuba how great you are!” she tweeted. “Long live the Cuban Revolution! Ratification of the most emancipatory, fair and beautiful law in the world, which regulates family law.”

Ganó el Sí. Se ha hecho justicia. Aprobar el #CódigoDeLasFamilias es hacer justicia. Es saldar una deuda con varias generaciones de cubanas y cubanos, cuyos proyectos de familia llevan años esperando por esta Ley. A partir de hoy seremos una nación mejor. #ElAmorYaEsLey ❤️🇨🇺 pic.twitter.com/O5o0Hi2cm1

— Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (@DiazCanelB) September 26, 2022