Cubans cast ballots, a historic referendum, same-sex unions, adoption, legalize same-sex unions
Cubans cast ballots in a historic referendum on same-sex unions and adoption
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On Sunday, Cubans cast ballots in a historic referendum on whether to legalize same-sex unions, adoption, and surrogacy, as well as grant non-biological parents more rights. The country’s 1975 Family Code, according to President Miguel Diaz-Canel, needs to be updated, therefore he and his wife voted early at a voting place in Havana. Reporters were informed that the new code “is a fair, necessary, modern norm that grants rights and safeguards to all individuals, to the whole diversity of families, of people, and of creeds.”

The majority of polling places in the island nation closed at 6:00 pm (2200 GMT). The National Electoral Council said that as of 4:00 pm, 54.8% of Cuba’s 8.4 million eligible voters had cast ballots.

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Do you agree with the Family Code? is a simple “Yes” or “No” poll being conducted among Cubans 16 and older.

The revised legislation would be a significant change in a nation where machismo is prevalent and where, in the 1960s and 1970s, homosexuals were deported to armed labor camps by the government.

Since then, official opinions have changed, and the government has launched a vigorous media campaign in support of the new code.

However, the referendum takes place in the midst of the nation’s worst economic crisis in 30 years, and it may give some voters a chance to express their disapproval of the administration.

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Dissidents have urged people to vote against the code or to not cast a ballot in order to ensure that it receives the majority of the vote necessary to become law.

The new legislation, if enacted, would strengthen the rights of children, the elderly, and the disabled while allowing surrogate pregnancies, provided no money is exchanged.

Significantly, it would redefine marriage as a union of two persons as opposed to a partnership between a man and a woman.

Today, same-sex unions are accepted in a number of Latin American nations, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Ecuador, as well as some states in Mexico.

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In spite of harsh condemnation from church leaders, Havana’s attempt to join that organisation in 2019 was unsuccessful.

The same-sex adoption and surrogate pregnancies are two of the new code’s provisions that the Cuban Conference of Catholic Bishops has stated it opposes.

But a lot of Cubans claim that they now embrace such notions.

‘More significant topics’

Those who claimed they agreed, for example, with same-sex marriages but not with surrogate pregnancies expressed misgivings about the code’s broad scope, which included roughly 500 items.

Months of passionate discussion about the code raged throughout Cuba.

Nevertheless, Rafael Hernandez, a political scientist, referred to it as the “most significant human rights legislation” there since the 1959 revolution.

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Due to US sanctions, a decline in tourism caused by the coronavirus outbreak, and a severe economic crisis with shortages of food, fuel, and medicine, Cuba is currently suffering.

According to experts, voters may take advantage of this opportunity to publicly criticize the government.

Jose Antonio Callejas, one of the voters, abstained from the change for this precise reason.