More than 1,000 people marched in Havana this weekend in what The Associated Press called a "colorful gay rights march" led by Mariela Castro, the daughter of Cuban leader Raúl Castro, the news service reported.

Saturday's event also included a blessing ceremony for gay couples, even though same-sex marriage remains illegal in Cuba. Protestant clergymen from the United States and Canada blessed the nearly two dozen gay couples who held hands or embraced.

The Rev. Roger LaRade of the Eucharistic Catholic Church of Canada officiated several quasi "marriages" in the Cuba Pavilion center in the central Havana neighborhood of Vedado, the English-language Havana Times noted.

"We call them 'holy unions,'" said LaRade, whose denomination is not recognized by the Holy See.

The ceremony was inspired by a mass wedding last year of more than 100 couples in Toronto at a World Pride event, said Mariela Castro, according to Fusion. The Cuban lawmaker has personally led a campaign to expand LGBT rights on the island, where gay people were hounded and persecuted during much of the presidency of Fidel Castro.

The government regularly sent gay men to labor or "re-education" camps during the 1960s and 70s, Fusion said, and it was not until 2010 that Fidel Castro admitted that he regretted his regime's treatment of gays, calling it an "injustice."

Beyond its political significance, the blessing ceremony was an intensely personal event for Luis Enrique Mederos and his partner for 14 years, Alain Morales.

"Luis, I give you my life," the 38-year-old Morales told his 47-year-old partner as the crowd applauded and cheered. "It's a step to strengthen our relationship because we're both religious, believers."

Morales noted that he hoped that the ceremony marked a step toward the eventual legalization of same-sex marriage in Cuba.

"It's a dream for the Cuban gay and transgender community that one day it won't be just a symbolic and we can get married," he said, "because we're also part of this changing world."