Gay Marriage News: Cuba Will Hold Symbolic Mass Gay Wedding for Gay Pride Event
In Cuba gay marriage remains illegal. But, Mariela Castro, the director of the National Sexual Education Center and daughter of the current Cuban president Raul Castro, hopes to change that.
On Tuesday she presented the program for the 8th Cuban Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, which according to EFE, will focus this year on the labor rights of the LGBT community.
This coming weekend, gay activists in Cuba will hold a symbolic mass wedding as part of Cuba's annual gay pride parade.
As reported by the BBC, Cuba has, in recent years, moved forward in their efforts to try to integrate people from the LGBT community into the mainstream.
Two years after he stepped down as Cuban leader, Fidel Castro remarked that he had been wrong to discriminate against gay people. After the 1959 revolution, homosexuals were routinely sent to labor camps.
In 2012, after winning in municipal elections in central Cuba, Adela Hernandez, became the first LGBT person in Cuba to earn a seat in office.
Despite the fact that no legislation has yet been approved to alleviate the situation, Ms. Castro has declared her father actually supports same-sex marriage.
Talking about the symbolic value of the mass wedding Castro said: "We can't do a wedding, but we wanted to have a very modest celebration of love with some religious leaders."
"In the future we'll see what more we can do," she added.
Among the special guests at the event will be the archbishop of the Eucharistic Catholic Church of Toronto and Rev. Roger LaRade, a former Jesuit priest now working as a Jungian Analyst who also performs weddings in the Toronto area.
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