Cuba to legalise same-sex marriage?

Dr. Alberto Roque

Source: ILGA

[Google translation]

The Cuban Parliament would see the legalization of same-sex unmarried partners in July next year. This was stated by Dr. Alberto Roque, representing the National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX) during his speech at the XXV International Conference ILGA going on in Sao Paulo (Brazil) in the public policy panel on sexual diversity of which members of the Ministry of Health of Brazil, and Germany and Cuba.
Roque spoke about the advancement of LGBT rights in Cuba during the last decade, as opposed "to what he believes the collective imagination." This progress comes from the implementation of an Education Strategy for Self-Respect Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, led by governmental CENESEX and other institutions on sexual diversity.

In this context, highlighted the performance of the Cuban Conference Against Homophobia for three years, the creation of networks for the health of lesbians throughout the country, and transgender sex reassignment.

Roque said that in the legislative framework, is still pending discussion by the Cuban parliament's new Family Code, which recognises domestic partnerships between same sex and respect for transgender people under family. Despite resistance from some policymakers, it is reported that this debate is scheduled to be tried in July 2011.

Finally, the activist said that after the Cuban vote in favor of the amendment that eliminated sexual orientation within the items listed in the resolution condemning extrajudicial killings, the authorities regretted being the only Latin American country in taking this position, noting that thus joined countries that legally condemn homosexuality.

In an unprecedented move, the Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, met with LGBT representatives where they said that this vote does not mean a change in policy on these issues and the Cuban position was due to a fact "cyclical and unexpected"! In what was at stake solidarity with African countries. As a result, activists succeeded in an official statement to the Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations where the Cuban Government expresses its rejection of extrajudicial killings, including those committed on the grounds of sexual orientation.

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