Havana, Cuba. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
The Cuban government has announced a referendum on the final draft of a new family code that would extend marriage and adoption rights to same-sex couples will take place on Sept. 25.
“It will benefit everyone; which shows its inclusive, protective and equal character,” said Justice Minister Oscar Silvera Martínez, as quoted in Granma, the official Cuban Communist Party newspaper, on July 22.
The National Assembly late last year approved the draft family code.
A “popular consultation” ended on April 30. Tremenda Nota, the Washington Blade’s media partner in Cuba, reported the last of the family code’s 25 drafts was presented to President Miguel Díaz-Canel and other officials on June 6.
Díaz-Canel and Mariela Castro, the daughter of former President Raúl Castro who is the director of Cuba’s National Center for Sexual Education, are among those who publicly support marriage equality. Cuban voters in 2019 overwhelmingly approved the draft of their country’s new constitution, but the government’s decision to remove a marriage equality amendment before the referendum on it sparked outrage among independent LGBTQ and intersex activists.
Efforts to implement the new family code are taking place against the backdrop of the continued persecution of LGBTQ and intersex Cubans and others who publicly criticize the country’s government.
Tremenda Nota Editor Maykel González Vivero is among the hundreds of people who were arrested during anti-government protests that took place across Cuba on July 11, 2021.
Yoan de la Cruz, a gay man who used Facebook Live to livestream the first protest that took place in San Antonio de los Baños in Artemisa province. De La Cruz subsequently received a 6-year prison sentence, but he was released on house arrest in May.
Brenda Díaz, a transgender woman with HIV who participated in a July 11 protest in Güira de Melena in Artemisa province, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison. The State Department told the Blade earlier this month it is “very concerned” about Díaz’s health and well-being and urged the Cuban government to release her.
“We strongly encourage the government of Cuba to release Ms. Diaz or at minimum transfer her to a facility consistent with her gender identity, and to provide her with appropriate medical treatment,” a State Department spokesperson told the Blade.
