Cuba backtracked on same-sex marriage in its new Constitution
The commission drafting the new Cuban Constitution removed the article that paved the way for the legalization of same-sex marriage and announced that it will leave it to the Family Code.
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The commission drafting Cuba's new constitution removed the article that could have paved the way for the legalization of same-sex marriage. It announced that it will leave the matter to the Family Code, so that the legal framework can be developed.
Article 68 of the bill defined marriage as "the voluntary, consensual union between two people, without specifying sex," the official newspaper Granma noted, in a review of the debates that preceded the ordinary session of the National Assembly.
The Cuban Parliament stated on Twitter that the article in question generated widespread rejection during the public debates on constitutional reform held between August 13 and November 15. It was then decided to introduce other modifications to "respect all opinions."
[READ ALSO: Cuba paves the way for same-sex marriage]
On Tuesday, in Parliament, the Secretary of the Cuban Council of State, Homero Acosta, presented a report revealing that Article 68 was the most frequently discussed topic in the public debate on the draft Constitution—it was addressed in 66% of neighborhood meetings. According to the report, there were 192,408 opinions on the concept of marriage, of which 158,376 proposed maintaining the current definition.
The constitutional amendment that would have allowed for a future law on same-sex marriage had sparked intense debate in Cuba, with campaigns in favor by the LGBTI community and also against it, led by the Catholic and Evangelical churches. The announcement that the article would be excluded from the bill provoked discontent among activists for sexual diversity.
Opinions are divided on the island. For one group, it's a "step backward" in the fight for the rights of that community on the island. For another, this change doesn't close any doors.
“The allusion to heteronormativity and the binary system that existed in the 1976 Constitution is erased, simply by using the concept of ‘spouse.’ Furthermore, I believe it is placed in the text as it should be: we cannot expect any Magna Carta to develop the content. It is logical that the Constitution establishes non-discrimination as part of its formulation and defines it in general terms, leaving it to the law, the Family Code, to develop the legal elements,” stated Manuel Vázquez Seijido, deputy director of the National Center for Sex Education (Cenesex).
Manuel Vázquez explains the new modifications to the Constitution
In less than a minute, Ms.C. Manuel Vázquez Seijido, deputy director of Cenesex, explains the new modifications to the Constitution, regarding article 82.
Published by Cenesex on Friday, December 21, 2018
[READ ALSO: The story of Farah, mother of Cuban transvestites: #GaboAward for best text.]
Mariela Castro Espín, director of the National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX), activist for marriage equality and deputy of the National Assembly, shared on social networks that the message formulated by the Parliament "mutilated the new proposal and with an inappropriate approach launched into the arena what many people are interpreting as a setback."
Castro warned that “the new formula maintains the essence of article 68, eliminates the gender binary and the heteronormativity with which marriage was defined in the 1976 Constitution, and introduces in the new proposal the substitution of “persons” for “spouses”, which maintains the possibility that all people can access the institution of marriage.”
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