Couple of evangelical activists star in same-sex marriage in Cuba

First modification: 10/14/2022 – 14:44Last modification: 10/14/2022 – 14:43

Same-sex couples have begun to marry in different provinces of the island since September 25, when Cuba ratified the Family Code in a referendum, a new legislation that includes same-sex marriage, adoption by same-sex couples and the assisted pregnancy, among others.

“For us who got so directly involved” in getting gay marriage accepted in Cuba, “that we made it part of our daily lives, that it was our daily bread for seven consecutive years, getting married was the closing, the culmination,” he tells AFP Adiel González, next to Lázaro González, a 52-year-old independent artist, in his house in the town of Bolondrón, in the central province of Matanzas, after getting married.

Lázaro got up very early on Thursday to prepare the wedding banquet to which only those closest to the couple were invited. He cooked traditional dishes such as fried rice, yucca al mojo and tempted plantains.

“We have always been waiting for this moment because it has been a dream,” he says, preparing a coffee, before changing to attend the ceremony.

A decision that “did not fall from the sky”

The couple married in the room of the only civil registry of the town of about 7,000 inhabitants. Surrounded by voluminous sepia-colored books, they both signed the marriage certificate jokingly. “You’re on board,” Lázaro said as soon as he signed his partner.

In Latin America, same-sex marriage is legal in Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Chile and in several Mexican states.

In Cuba it has been a sensitive issue. The country is still marked by the machismo exacerbated in the 1960s and 1970s, when the government ostracized many homosexuals or sent them to militarized agricultural labor camps.

Adiel thinks that since then, “Cuba has changed overnight.” Having a president who publicly says “that he is in favor of same-sex marriage, that did not fall from the sky”, but is the result of the hard work of activists and academics who managed to influence political decisions, he adds.

This activist says that he also had to face the burden of being born into a “very conservative and fundamentalist” Christian family.

“I was taught to reject any homosexual manifestation. Any mannerism was even considered a sin,” he says, recalling that from the age of 11 he tried to change by giving himself to prayer.

“But it did not happen because sexual orientation is not chosen, it is not changed and I am convinced that sexual orientation does not matter to God,” he adds now with a cross around his neck.

Activism for gay rights despite the Church

Around the age of 20, Adiel came to terms with his condition and decided to start a timid work of convincing in his local church, but in 2014 he ended up separating to found a theological project of LGBTIQ+ Christian activism, which later led to a larger independent organization, in Matanzas, the provincial capital.

Being recognized is very important to us

In 2019, the Cuban authorities tried to introduce same-sex marriage in the Constitution approved that year, but the Catholic and Evangelical churches strongly opposed it.

“That’s where the fire really started. I saw myself in a crossfire because I was doing activism from my Christian identity and it was difficult,” says Adiel, who says he has suffered painful attacks on social networks, including death threats.

Since then he and Lázaro, who have been together for 10 years, have immersed themselves in an intense activism in favor of homosexual rights and the Family Code, submitted between February and April to a consultation in 79,000 neighborhood meetings throughout the island, before the referendum.

When the results of the referendum were known, which obtained a vote of 66.85% in favor and 33.15% against, “we shouted, we hugged each other, it was very emotional, it was really worth it,” says Lázaro.

“We do not need a signature to be happy, but it is to make us recognize in society that we are in a relationship like any other heterosexual and that is very important for us”, being protected by law and having rights, she says, hugging her new husband.