In the island nation of Cuba, the National Assembly of People’s Power (NAPP) approved a law that will allow transgender people to self-declare their gender on official documents without the need to first undergo gender-affirmation surgery.
The new law also makes other amendments to Cuba’s national civil registry (the country’s record-keeping system for birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, and citizenship papers), including the legal recognition of common-law partnerships, and a process for digitizing paper records.
In Twitter/X, Cuba’s Minister of Justice Oscar Silvera Martínez wrote that the new law “will allow the country to have a modern civil registry”, including “the issuance of digital documents with full validity and efficiency.”
Various pro-LGBTQIA+ developments have been happening in Cuba. For instance, in 2008, it became the first Latin American country to provide comprehensive coverage for gender-affirming surgeries and related medical care.
And then in 2022, same-sex marriage was legalized after a national referendum saw majority of Cubans voting in favor of a new family code that includes the legalization of same-sex marriage, while also including provisions for same-sex adoption and surrogacy.
