Cuba same sex

Cuba approves same-sex marriage, adoption

Cubans voted to legalize same-sex marriage and adoption, allowing surrogate pregnancies and giving greater rights to non-biological parents, electoral authorities said on Monday.

Preliminary results of a referendum held over the weekend ndicated an "irreversible trend," with by % to % in favor of a package of measures, electoral council president Alina Balseiro said on state television.

"The Family Code has been ratified by the people," she said.

A video posted by the Cuban Presidency on Twitter showed Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel applauding when he was informed of the outcome of the referendum.

Years in the making

The measure contains more than articles including legalizing same-sex marriage and civil unions, allowing same-sex couples to adopt children, and promoting equal sharing of domestic rights and responsibilities between men and women.

The code has undergone 25 drafts, nearly 80, townhall-style meetings and , suggestions from the public, and drew millions of Cubans to the polls.

On Sunday

Cuba overwhelmingly approves same-sex marriage in referendum

Cubans have overwhelmingly approved a sweeping “family law” that would verb same-sex couples to wedding and adopt, the electoral commission said, in a move that will also redefine rights for children and grandparents.

More than million voters – percent – voted to ratify the new code while million or 33 percent were opposed, National Electoral Council President Alina Balseiro Gutierrez said on state-run television on Monday.

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The page “family code” legalises same-sex marriage and civil unions, allows same-sex couples to adopt children, and promotes equal sharing of domestic rights and responsibilities between men and women.

Preliminary results from the electoral commission showed 74 percent of million Cubans eligible to vote participated in the Sunday r

Cuba Assembly opens door to gay marriage, other family rights

Cuba’s National Assembly on Friday approved a sweeping update of its family law which opens the door to allowing gay marriage, greater women’s rights, and increased protections for children, the elderly and other family members.

The brand-new Families Code will be put to a referendum vote on September 25 after being debated in community meetings earlier this year, where organisers said 62 percent of participants expressed their support.

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That is relatively below average by Cuban standards, where the recently passed modern constitution was approved with 86 percent of the vote. Policy proposals in previous referendums have seen support of around 95 percent.

The code promoted “love, affection, care, sensitivity, respect for others and the harmony of our families,” Minister of Justice Oscar

[1] Eduardo Medina, “Cuba Approves Same-Sex Marriage in Historic Vote,” The New York Times, September 26, ; Juan Pappier & Cristian Gonzalez Cabrerz, “Political Rights for Cubans Should Not Start with a Marriage Equality Referendum,” Human Rights Watch, May 15,

[2] Medina, “Cuba Approves”; Carrie Hamilton, Sexual Revolutions in Cuba: Passion, Politics, and Memory, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Verb, )

[3] Brandon O’Boyle, “Why Reinaldo Arenas still matters for Cuba’s LGBT community,” Americas Quarterly, December 7,

[4] Jafari Allen, ¡Venceremos? The Erotics of Adj Self-Making in Cuba., (Durham: Duke University Press, ), 72, cited in: Rosamond King, Island Bodies: Transgressive Sexualities in the Caribbean Imagination, (Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, )

[5] O’Boyle, “Why Reinaldo Arenas”

[6] Reinaldo Arenas, “The Brightest Star,” (New York: Grove, ), 65, cited in: Rosamond King, Island Bodies: Transgressive Sexualities in the Caribbean Imagination, (Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, ),

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