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.
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.
