Cuba has voted to legalise same-sex marriage following an historic vote for the Caribbean island nation.
Cuba hasn’t had the most progressive laws when it comes to homosexuality, but now, two thirds of the population have voted to legalise gay marriage as part of the approval for a new ‘Family Code’.
The code is a document drafted up by the government, and sees not only the same sex marriage legalised, but also surrogate pregnancies and adoption rights, making it easier for gay couples to have children.
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While the government supported the code in the run up to the landmark referendum, there has still been significant pushback to the changes, from both religious groups and opposition political parties who claimed that the vote offered a chance to beat the government.
The referendum required that 50 percent of the population vote yes in order to pass, but on Monday, an ‘irreversible trend’ was indicated by early results, showing that 66 percent of votes counted had been in favour of the new code, which contains more than 400 articles in total.
This represents a significant moment for Cuba and a great victory for equality campaigners on the island.
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When Fidel Castro was in charge of the nation, gay relationships were demonised and homosexual men and women were sent by the government to work camps for ‘re-education’.
In Cuba, only the Communist party are allowed to contest elections, therefore margins of victory are often around the 90 percent mark.
This measure has been approved at 66.9 percent against 33.3 percent, which is an unusually high amount of dissent against the new Family Code.
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That number was confirmed by the president of the National Election Council, Alina Balsiero Gutierrez, who spoke with the country’s media.
However, she added that some votes have yet to be counted in certain areas, although that will not affect the overall result.
Speaking as he submitted his own vote, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said that there are still questions surrounding the new law, but hoped that people would support it.
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“Most of our people will vote in favor of the code, but it still has issues that our society as a whole does not understand," he said.
One significant campaigner for the ‘yes’ vote has been Mariela Castro, daughter to former president Raul Castro and niece of Fidel.
The new rules have been approved by the Cuban parliament – the National Assembly – after having been debated for many years.
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Topics: World News, LGBTQ
Tom Wood