Castro daughter champions gay rights
The daughter of Cuba's new president is urging the Cuban National Assembly to adopt a law protecting LGBT rights, arguably the most liberal bill of its kind in Latin America.
Mariela Castro, Raul's daughter, is the head of the National Center for Sex Education. The proposed legislation would recognize same-sex unions, including inheritance rights, allow free gender-reassignment operations for transgender people, and allow transgender people to change their identification records without first having to undergo surgery. The bill, however, does not allow adoption for gay couples, nor does it push for marriage equality. "A lot of homosexual couples asked me to not risk delaying getting the law passed by insisting on the word marriage," she said, according to BBC News. "In Cuba marriage is not as important as the family, and at least this way we can guarantee the personal and inheritance rights of homosexuals and transsexuals."
