Cubans to vote on family code that would legalize same sex unions
MIAMI - Cubans are set to vote on a new family code and whether to legalize same-sex marriage.
On Sunday, Cuba is due to hold a long-awaited referendum to overhaul the more than four decades old family code that if passed for the first time would allow gay and lesbian couples to legally wed and adopt children.
"I believe we are all equal in terms of rights, options, possibilities," said Annery Rivera Velasco who recently married Yennys in a symbolic ceremony since same unions are not legal in Cuba. "In terms of being a citizen and expressing that citizenship, I don't think we are less than the rest of society."
It's been a long struggle for LGBTQ rights in Cuba.
At the beginning of Fidel Castro's revolution, gay people were sent alongside others, deemed by the new government to be undesirables, to toil in work camps.
Slowly though there has been growing official acceptance of gays, lesbians, and transgender people in Cuba.
Raul Castro's daughter Mariela has been a vocal supporter of LGBTQ rights and sponsors a parade against homophobia.
The new tolerance though has had limits. In 2018, Cuban lawmakers removed language authorizing same sex unions from a proposed new constitution amid fears that voters would reject it. Many in Cuba's evangelical community say they will vote "no" on the new family code.
The growing influence of the evangelical church in Cuba is one of the main reasons it has taken so long to legalize gay marriage. Cubans from other parts of society could join them in voting "no."
"It's not just Christians. There are communists who are not in agreement, and materialistic people not in agreement. A lot of people who believe in different things that don't agree with the changes they want to make with the new family code," said evangelical Pastor Yoel Serrano.
But other people of faith embrace the idea of legalized same sex marriage.
A church in Matanzas is one of only a handful conducting same sex marriages and encouraging parishioners to vote for the new family code.
"I have faith that love will win," said Elaine Saralegui Caraballo with the Metropolitan Community Church of Matanzas. "If it's a "yes" or a "no" it's the same, we tell our community no one can take away your value, who you are."
Annery and Yennys said if the family code passes, they will also hold a civil wedding.