www.ambiente.us JANUARY / ENERO 2008
Cuban law may recognize same-sex partners, say officials
By Gemma Pritchard
The Cuban Communist Party is considering granting legal recognition to
same-sex unions, as health officials prepare to authorize sex-change
operations, the director of the Cenesex sex education centre in Cuba has
said.
The proposed change to Cuban family law would put members of
same-sex unions on a par with heterosexual couples, psychologist
Mariela Castro, who is the daughter of acting President Raul Castro
and niece of Fidel, told EFE.
Cenesex, which was founded in 1989 as a department of the Public
Health Ministry, approached Cuba's parliament two years ago with a
proposal to overhaul the 1975 Family Code to recognize the rights of
gays, lesbians and transsexuals. But it is the Communist Party that will
decide whether the proposal becomes law.
"We are receiving suggestions and debating adjusting the proposal so it is more flexible and has more
chance of being approved," Mariela Castro told EFE.
The principal needs of Cuban homosexuals "are related to the right to their recognition as consensual
couples, as non-matrimonial couples, but that authorities recognize their property and inheritance rights in
those non-legalized unions," she said.
"That is their principal interest. They are not interested in marriage, they are not interested in adoption,
because in Cuba there are hardly any children to adopt."
She added that besides legal recognition, gays, lesbians and transsexuals in Cuba want respect: "Let no
one feel the right to humiliate them, nor harm them, nor exclude or reject them, that we strengthen within the
family this ethic of accepting everyone and of not being discriminated against for sexual orientation."
The Public Health Ministry in Cuba is currently in the process of approving regulations that would allow
sex-change operations.
Mariela Castro said that a team of Cuban physicians is already in training to perform such procedures.
In an interview with EFE last August, the 45-year-old psychologist said her struggle for the equality of the
sexes and gay rights would "enrich the Cuban Revolution."
But she added that the task is not an easy one in a "patriarchal" society where many remember the UMAP
labor camps where homosexuals and the ideologically suspect were interned in the late 1960s.
Copyright © AMBIENTE MAGAZINE. Do not reproduce without citing this source.
Cuban law may recognize same-sex partners, say officials
By Gemma Pritchard
The Cuban Communist Party is considering granting legal recognition to
same-sex unions, as health officials prepare to authorize sex-change
operations, the director of the Cenesex sex education centre in Cuba has
said.
The proposed change to Cuban family law would put members of
same-sex unions on a par with heterosexual couples, psychologist
Mariela Castro, who is the daughter of acting President Raul Castro
and niece of Fidel, told EFE.
Cenesex, which was founded in 1989 as a department of the Public
Health Ministry, approached Cuba's parliament two years ago with a
proposal to overhaul the 1975 Family Code to recognize the rights of
gays, lesbians and transsexuals. But it is the Communist Party that will
decide whether the proposal becomes law.
"We are receiving suggestions and debating adjusting the proposal so it is more flexible and has more
chance of being approved," Mariela Castro told EFE.
The principal needs of Cuban homosexuals "are related to the right to their recognition as consensual
couples, as non-matrimonial couples, but that authorities recognize their property and inheritance rights in
those non-legalized unions," she said.
"That is their principal interest. They are not interested in marriage, they are not interested in adoption,
because in Cuba there are hardly any children to adopt."
She added that besides legal recognition, gays, lesbians and transsexuals in Cuba want respect: "Let no
one feel the right to humiliate them, nor harm them, nor exclude or reject them, that we strengthen within the
family this ethic of accepting everyone and of not being discriminated against for sexual orientation."
The Public Health Ministry in Cuba is currently in the process of approving regulations that would allow
sex-change operations.
Mariela Castro said that a team of Cuban physicians is already in training to perform such procedures.
In an interview with EFE last August, the 45-year-old psychologist said her struggle for the equality of the
sexes and gay rights would "enrich the Cuban Revolution."
But she added that the task is not an easy one in a "patriarchal" society where many remember the UMAP
labor camps where homosexuals and the ideologically suspect were interned in the late 1960s.
Copyright © AMBIENTE MAGAZINE. Do not reproduce without citing this source.
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