Cubans to vote on gay marriage in September

Cubans will vote in a referendum on legalizing gay marriage in September. The referendum on a new family law that would also allow surrogacy was scheduled for September 25, the parliament of the socialist island state announced on Friday. Parliament Secretary Homero Acosta was optimistic that the people would accept the "revolutionary, inclusive and democratic" law.

The new family law is intended to replace the previous legal basis, which has been in force for 47 years. Actually, the Cuban leadership had already wanted to introduce same-sex marriage in the new constitution passed in 2019. However, the project was abandoned in the face of opposition from churches and conservative groups.

Homosexuality was taboo on the Caribbean island for a long time after the 1959 revolution. Sexual minorities were stigmatised, homosexuals attacked, put in "re-education camps" and excluded from public service. The revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, who died in 2016, later apologized for it.

Source: Kleine Zeitung

Photo: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS.