Roughly
two-thirds of the population voted to approve the reforms in a sweeping “family
law” code which will also see rights for children and grandparents redefined
and surrogate pregnancies allowed.
Although a few
places are yet to be counted, the president of the National Electoral Council,
Alina Balseiro Gutiérrez, told local outlets that the changes had been approved
by a vote of 66.9% to 33.1%.
It comes after
the government ran a nationwide campaign urging the public to support the law
change.
“Most of our
people will vote in favour of the code, but it still has issues that our
society as a whole does not understand,” said President Miguel Díaz-Canel as he
voted on 25 September.
The referendum
was for a new Family Code, which is a 100-page document that went through
dozens of drafts before reaching its final stages.
It was met
with an unusually strong amount of resistance from religious groups and
conservatives in the country, despite the measures being approved by Cuba’s
parliament, the National Assembly, after
several years of debate over whether or not to implement them.
The success of
the referendum is the result of tireless efforts by LGBTQ+ activists in the
country, where gay people were subjected to heavy persecution in the 1960s and
70s.
Attitudes
towards homosexuality have come a long way on the Communist-run island since
then, though there is still a long way to go in tackling homophobia from those
in opposition to the changes.
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