Cuba: Gay man and transgender woman in state-sanctioned marriage

Read Time:2 Minute, 30 Second

Cuba sanctions first “gay” marriage

The couple state their marriage is not provocation

A Cuban man and transgender woman have married in what is being seen as the country’s first gay wedding. Cuba outlaws same sex marriage, but bride Wendy Iriepa is legally a woman after undergoing one of the first state-sponsored sex changes in 2007.

For some onlookers outside the registry office, the idea of a gay wedding was a bit of a head-scratcher. Cuban onlookers crowded the sidewalks and watched from apartment windows. Their response ranged from applause to derisive laughter to bewilderment.

The couple was married in a simple civil ceremony surrounded by much hoopla. Ignacio Estrada and Iriepa, signed a marriage certificate, exchanged rings, and kissed before a state official, who wished them much happiness. Iriepa’s husband, Estrada, is a noted dissident and gay rights activist in Cuba and is also HIV positive. The couple, held on Fidel Castro’s birthday, said the wedding was a gift to honor the former president of Cuba.

Middle-aged Iris Gonzalez was outraged. I don’t think they should be able to marry. It goes against nature. Where did she get those breasts?

Prominent dissidents and members of the gay community attended the wedding. In Cuba, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people faced official discrimination for years in Communist Cuba. Many were sent to re-education camps to stamp out their “counter-revolutionary” values.

Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada were declared “legally united in matrimony.” In Cuba, homosexuality was legalized in 1970. President Raul Castro has introduced a series of gay rights reforms since taking over from his brother Fidel in 2006. In 2010, Fidel Castro apologized for persecuting homosexuals under his rule, calling his actions a great injustice.

Iriepa, 37, had her sex-change treatment at the National Centre for Sex Education, headed by Raul Castro’s daughter, Mariela. I dedicate my wedding to all those who want to have their own,” she said after the ceremony.

Estrada stated, This is the first wedding between a transsexual woman and a gay man. We celebrate it at the top of our voices and affirm that this is a step forward for the gay community in Cuba.

Dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez acted as a godmother at the ceremony, and said that although the marriage was not technically a gay wedding. It is the closest we have come in Cuba. We are very happy with what happened today. It was a big step in a small Cuba, Sanchez tweeted.

The bride wore a strapless white wedding dress and made an exuberant arrival in a 1950s Ford convertible. She sat up on the backseat and held the gay pride flag high with both hands as she smiled with happiness.

The newlyweds plan to spend their honeymoon at an undisclosed location.

Could Cuba teach the United States learn to be more accepting about gay marriage? How do you think Marcus and Michelle Bachmann would respond to Ignacio Estrada’s and Iriepa’s marriage?