Cubans will decide at the polls if they approve same-sex marriage

First modification: 09/23/2022 – 22:50

Cuba decides this Sunday in a referendum whether or not to approve same-sex marriage and surrogacy, giving the opposition to the Díaz-Canel government the opportunity to express its disagreement with current policies.

Those called to the polls are eight million people, over 16 years of age, who will be able to vote voluntarily and secretly. This is the first time, since the revolution, that a law can be decided by the people.

If approved, the family code will allow marriage between people of the same sex and that women can gestate children of another person, on the condition that there is no exchange of money. The new law includes the adoption of children of couples regardless of sex and recognizes the rights of non-biological parents.

If the yes wins at the polls, Cuba would be the ninth country in the Americas that allows this kind of union, as does Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia, Uruguay, some states of Mexico, Chile and Argentina.

The votes take place in the midst of the economic crisis that the island is experiencing and the discontent of a certain part of the population due to the one-party politics, which has been in power for more than 63 years, which has caused many, en masse, to try to emigrate of the Caribbean country.

The Government, which has promoted this law, could see a surprise at the polls, since the vote could serve to express their disagreement with the general policies, even if the new regulations favor them.

For the Cuban academic from the University of Holy Names in California, Arturo López-Levy, this would be the opportunity “for the government to pay for the crisis”, and “to show approval or disapproval”.

According to the calculations, the “Yes” would take the majority of the votes, while the “No” would get 25 or 30%.

Three years ago, the new Constitution, which was also submitted to the popular vote, was approved with 78%, this being one of the lowest approval rates that the Government has received since 1959.

The family code, a change in exclusion policy

Since 1975, Cuban law has defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman, an article that Díaz-Canel tried to change in the approved Constitution of 2019, but the most conservative groups, such as the churches, opposed it.

To try to change the norm, the new family code was created, which is the one that is ready to be voted on at the polls this Sunday. The president referred to the new document as “the hope of thousands of people marked by painful histories of exclusion and silence. Human beings who have suffered and continue to suffer from the gaps in our laws. On September 25, I vote Yes.”

LGBTIQ+ people have traditionally been excluded by a traditionally macho society. In fact, in 2010, the government admitted that the revolution had oppressed them as deviants, so much so that they were sent to forced labor camps and some into exile.

According to the Government, meetings were held throughout the island to promote the initiative that would pass with 50% of the votes, and would come into force on Monday.

The Cuban independent journalist Maykel González Vivero affirms that he believes “that any space of rights that we obtain, that we take from the Government, any island of freedom that we can conquer, is worth it.”

Along the same lines, the director of the National Center for Sex Education, Mariela Castro, says that “those who say ‘No’ are harming themselves and their families and future family generations. They are harming the people they love.” , because this is very advanced, very revolutionary code.”

Among the powerful opponents of the new code is the Cuban Catholic Church, which maintains, as is its tradition, that “it is a child’s right to have a father and a mother.”

With AFP and EFE