Cubans vote to legalise gay marriage and adoption in historic referendum on Communist-governed island
- Cuba has voted to legalise gay marriage and adoption after historic referendum
- Two thirds of voters on the Communist-governed island voted in favour
- The ‘family code’ boosts sharing of domestic rights between men and women
Cubans have voted in favour of legalising gay marriage and adoption following a referendum that also boosted rights for women.
More than 3.9 million voted in favour of legalisation, 66.9 per cent, while 1.95 million opposed, 33 per cent, Alina Balseiro Gutierrez, president of the commission, said on state-run television.
Though the referendum won millions more votes in favour rather than against, the results showed an unusually strong resistance from the growing evangelical movement in the Communist-governed island.
‘Justice has been done,’ Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel wrote in a tweet.
‘It is paying off a debt with several generations of Cuban men and women, whose family projects have been waiting for this law for years,’ he said.
The 100-page ‘family code’ legalizes same-sex marriage and civil unions, allows same-sex couples to adopt children, and promotes equal sharing of domestic rights and responsibilities between men and women.
Cuba has voted strongly in favour of approving gay marriage and adoption
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel (pictured) said: ‘Justice has been done’ following the outcome of the vote
Preliminary results from the electoral commission showed 74 per cent of 8.4 million Cubans eligible to vote participated in the Sunday referendum.
There are no independent observers of Cuban elections, although citizens may observe the count at their precincts. Scattered local reports of district counts on social media appeared to tally with the official results.
The announcement of the results came as Diaz-Canel presided over an emergency meeting as the Caribbean island prepared for Hurricane Ian to pass over its western tip early on Tuesday.
Official Twitter accounts showed the room erupting in applause and the president leaning back and smiling at the news.
The campaign to leagalise gay marriage and adoption in Cuba had been strongly backed by the government
The Cuban president led the campaign for the adoption of the code.
By Cuban standards Sunday’s turnout was relatively modest, and a 33 per cent ‘no’ vote relatively large in the communist-run country, where previous referendums have seen the government position receiving near unanimous approval.
The dissent is an indication of both how Cuba is changing and the current dire economic circumstances, which have seen long power outages and lines for food, medicine and fuel.
Sunday’s vote was also the first of its kind since most residents have had access to the internet, which has let dissenting views spread more widely.
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