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| Photo Credit: AP |
HAVANA (AP) — Cuba held a rare referendum Sunday on an unusually contentious law — a government-backed “family law” code that would allow same-sex couples to marry and adopt, as well as outlining the rights of children and grandparents.
Cuba holds
parliamentary elections every two years, though no party other than the
Communist is allowed, but seldom has it held referendums on specific laws.
And seldom
has an officially backed measure met as much open criticism as the family law
of more than 400 articles, which has been questioned by many members of the
island’s increasingly vocal evangelical community.
The sweeping
code also would allow surrogate pregnancies, broader rights for grandparents in
regard to grandchildren, protection of the elderly and measures against gender
violence.
President
Miguel DÃaz-Canel, who has promoted the law acknowledged resistance as he voted
on Sunday.
“Most of our
people will vote in favor of the code, but it still has issues that our society
as a whole does not understand,” he said.
Sixty-four-year-old
market vender Miguel Alberto Galindo said he had voted for the measure: “It’s
time that homosexuals have the same rights as everyone else,” he said.
But
Alejandro RodrÃguez, a 33-year-old hardware store worker, said he’d voted
against the measure, saying, “Some things in the code are good but others are
bad.” He said he did not agree with giving gay couples the same rights as
“normal” families.
The measure
was approved by Cuba’s Parliament, the National Assembly, following a thousands
of government-organized information sessions this year in neighborhoods across
the country.
A major
supporter of the measure is Mariela Castro, director of the National Center for
Sex Education, a promoter of rights for same-sex couples, daughter of former
President Raul Castro and niece of his brother Fidel.
But there’s
a strong strain of social conservatism in Cuba, where evangelical churches have
been growing. Several religious leaders have expressed concern or opposition to
the law., worrying it could weaken nuclear families.
While Cuba
was officially — and often militantly — atheist for decades after the 1959
revolution led by Fidel Castro — Raul’s brother — it has become more tolerant
of religions over the past quarter century. That has meant a greater opening
not only the once-dominant Roman Catholic Church, but also to Afro-Cuban religions,
protestants and Muslims.
Some of
those churches took advantage of the opening in 2018 and 2019 to campaign
against another plebiscite which would have rewritten the constitution in a way
to allow gay marriage.
The
opposition was strong enough that the government at that time backed away.