Cuba voted to legalize same-sex marriage in a referendum, also making it legal for gay couples to adopt children.
The referendum passed with 94% of votes being counted at a nearly 2 to 1 margin, with 3,936,790 voting in favor and 1,950,090 against, CNN reported. The vote in favor will see an overhaul in the family code, which has been the law of the land since the communist revolution in 1959. The new family code, at 100 pages, went through over two dozen drafts and hours of debate, according to the BBC.
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The legalization is a far cry from the persecution gay people faced in Cuba in the 1960s and 1970s, when they were sent to labor camps for “re-education.” Homosexuality was legalized in 1979, but gay people still complain of open discrimination.
The opposition to the referendum came mainly from conservatives and religious groups, including Cuba’s evangelical churches.
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The referendum is considered to be an effort by the Cuban government to clean up its human rights record following a brutal crackdown on protests last year, according to the BBC.
