蜜芽传媒

Cuba has voted to legalise same-sex marriage in a national referendum. About two-thirds of the population voted to approve reforms in a new Family Code on 25 September.

Newsday spoke to Andr茅s Pertierra, a Latin American and Caribbean historian at the University of Wisconsin and author of Or铆genes: A Cuban History podcast. He explains how the referendum came about and the significance of the results.

"The referendum was held for three reasons... it was something they'd promised to do in 2019... a tool under President D铆az-Canel to engage with the population... and it delivers something to its constituencies at home," he says.

"It's going to enshrine the rights of existing and future same-sex couples, it's going to enshrine their ability to adopt, as well as codifying not-for-profit surrogacy... think about the key moments where being legally married to your spouse is important: inheritance, divorce, immigration. This is going to be huge for the people who benefit from it."

It marks a big moment for Cuba, which saw gay people persecuted and sent to work camps in the 1960s and '70s.

(Photo: A child holds a banner which reads "Code Yes" referring to a family code referendum during a pro-referendum demonstration in Havana, Cuba, 17 September, 2022. Credit: Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters)

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