Accessibility links

Breaking News

Cuban President in Favor of Same-Sex Marriage


FILE - Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel attends a ceremony at the National Pantheon in Caracas, Venezuela, May 30, 2018.
FILE - Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel attends a ceremony at the National Pantheon in Caracas, Venezuela, May 30, 2018.

Cuba's president says he supports a change to the island's constitution in support of same-sex marriage.

Miguel Diaz-Canel said in an interview broadcast Sunday on the Venezuela-based television station Telesur: "The approach of recognizing marriage between two people, without limitations, responds to a problem of eliminating all types of discrimination in society."

Cuba's current constitution limits marriage to the "voluntary union of a man and a woman."

In a new constitution, however, that parliament has approved and that will be submitted for a national referendum next year, marriage is defined as a union between "two people."

The definition of marriage in the proposed constitution and the president's support represent seismic changes for the Cuban government's attitude towards homosexuals.

"We've been going through a massive thought evolution and many taboos have been broken," Diaz-Canel told Telesur.

FILE - Mariela Castro, a lawmaker and director of the Cuban National Centre for Sex Education (CENESEX), National Assembly member and daughter of Cuba’s President Raul Castro, speaks during a news conference in Havana, Cuba, May 3, 2017.
FILE - Mariela Castro, a lawmaker and director of the Cuban National Centre for Sex Education (CENESEX), National Assembly member and daughter of Cuba’s President Raul Castro, speaks during a news conference in Havana, Cuba, May 3, 2017.

Much of the change can be attributed to Mariela Castro who has spearheaded a campaign for years for the rights of Cuba's LGBT community. She is the daughter of former Cuban president Raul Castro.

Diaz-Canel replaced Raul Castro in April.

  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG