The new Cuban Family Codea legislative package that includes same-sex marriage and surrogacy, entered into force this Tuesday with its publication in the Official Gazette hours after its approval in a referendum.
Before your publication in the official Gazetteordinary number 99, the law was signed and endorsed the day before by the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and the head of the National Assembly of People’s Power, Esteban Lazo.
A Code of all rights for all people and with the participation of the people!!#ElAmorYaEsLaw ??♥️
Law 156/2022 can be downloaded at this link?https://t.co/OyHcYtKpCY pic.twitter.com/MhgNWZHbx1
— Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Cuba. (@CubaMinjus) September 27, 2022
The referendum gave the “Yes” to the new Family Code -which replaces the previous one from 1975- with 66.87% of the votes cast, 3,936,790 citizens, out of a total of 8,447,467 people registered on the electoral roll.
This popular consultation in the Cuban ballot boxes has been the first for a particular law and the third in general that has been carried out in Cuba since the triumph of the revolution in 1959.
Its text contemplates in addition to equal marriage and surrogacy, adoption by homosexual couples, the prohibition of child marriage, addresses gender violence, and recognizes rights that favor children, the elderly and disabled people.
Before being approved last July by the National Assembly, the highest legislative body on the island, version 25 of the Family Code was widely debated by the Cuban population between February and April in 79,000 meetings in neighborhoods and municipalities.
Referendum: in Cuba the “Yes” was the majority for the new Family Code
This is the only project that has gone to a referendum among the 70 legal regulations updated as a result of the introduction of the new Constitution, unlike other laws such as the Penal Code. It was published in the Official Gazette on July 22 of this year.
Efe/OnCuba.