Lisset and Liusba silently ascend the ten stairs to the notary office while being serious, erect, and clothed in long gala gowns – despite the noon Cuban heat.
Their two little girls are walking only a few feet in front of them.
The stress was gone from their features as they exited the building over an hour later. They became spouses right then and there.
Just three weeks before, Cuba’s new Family Code, which allowed for everything from equal marriage to surrogate moms, went into force and made it a possibility on the island.
One of the first to choose to marry legally in Cuba in accordance with the legislation is the pair, who have been together for seven years.
Liusba Grajales, a manager at the central University of Las Villas, about 250 kilometers from the city, remarked, “It’s a significant day.” “Love is love, plain and simple. Without restriction or prejudice… I’m not sure whether I should be laughing or crying. There are numerous powerful feelings mixed together.”
Lisset Daz, a 34-year-old dancer, who was nearby, expressed her happiness. She said, “I feel proud.” “I’m in awe.”
Mariela Castro, the daughter of former president Raul Castro, was the most outspoken supporter of LGBT rights on the island and helped the Cuban government’s push to pass the law.
Following Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Colombia, Cuba became the eighth nation in Latin America to allow homosexual marriage in recent years.
Elections in Cuba, where only the Communist Party is permitted, often result in winning margins of more than 90%, as did a referendum on a significant constitutional revision in 2019.
Despite this, 33.15% of voters cast “no” ballots across the nation. The language was the target of a significant attack from religious organizations who oppose homosexual marriage.
66.85% of Cubans who turned out to vote did so. Almost 6% of votes were invalid or left blank.
Some government-opposing organisations also opposed the law, calling for a “no” vote as a protest against the Cuban government amid growing dissatisfaction with Miguel Daz-Canel Bermdez’s rule.
Some LGBTQ individuals who said they were refraining from voting on it because they believed it to be a human right in the first place also opposed it.
“Many residents of the neighborhood opposed voting “yes” since they didn’t think they needed any kind of proof to prove they had this in writing (to be recognized as a couple). I believe we definitely need the right since it safeguards us “Liusba remarked.
Nevertheless, she asserted that she thinks the island still has “a decade to go” before it has a “better and more inclusive” society.
The former Family Code, which dates back to 1975, declared that marriage was only valid between a man and a woman, not between two individuals. As a result, lifetime partners were not entitled to things like inheriting each other’s possessions upon death.
They share a home with their two kids, Laura, age 11, and Ainhoa, age 3. Because they did not have male partners at the time, they did not have access to assisted reproductive technologies, therefore the latter was born at home by insemination.
The new rule goes farther than equal marriage, which campaigners unsuccessfully attempted to incorporate in the Constitution in 2019, or homosexual couples’ right to adopt or employ surrogates.
For the first time, the legislation governs grandparents’ visiting rights over their grandchildren, contact with stepparents in divorce circumstances, and even minor child custody in the latter case where it is required for the kid’s wellbeing.
In addition, it provides safeguards for the elderly and handicapped, allows married couples to divide their property separately, and let parents to decide the order in which their children’s surnames are used.
The ladies saw their marriage as a method to safeguard their children in the event that anything were to happen to them.
Ainhoa, who was also dressed to the nines, was confused by her mother’s marriage ceremony but went about introducing Laura. She said, “She’s my sister.
Laura cautiously said to The Associated Press, wiping away tears with her moms, “I’m pleased for what the wedding represents.”
However, it faced fierce resistance from evangelical churches, who said the legislation went against the “traditional family” set up by God, which they assert to be the marriage of a man and a woman with the intention of having children. The code seems to garner less support in certain rural locations.
In contrast to Villa Clara, the home of Liusba and Lisset, which garnered 66% of the vote, and Havana, the nation’s capital, which obtained 70%, Holguin in the southeast received just 53%.
Francisco “Paquito” Rodriguez, a blogger and one of the first organizers for the rights of the LGBTQ population in Cuba, stated that the reaction “indicates that we have to keep working in those areas and deepen and direct educational efforts.”
Even so, he nevertheless hailed the new code as a success.
Cuban officials withheld information on the number of homosexual marriages that took place over these three weeks, but Rodriguez estimates that there may have been at least a dozen given the data he has gleaned from social media.
“The inaugural International Day for the Fight Against Homophobia and Transphobia was observed in Cuba in 2007. The battle to pass it into law lasted 15 years “explained Rodriguez. “It seems like a long time in a person’s life, but in the scope of our history, it’s an accomplishment.”