Cuba’s huge leap forward in trans rights – citizens can now legally choose gender without surgery
Cuban Wendy Iriepa (L) who was the first trans woman to get legally married in Cuba in 2011 (Getty)
Cuban Wendy Iriepa (L) who was the first trans woman to get legally married in Cuba in 2011 (Getty)
Cuba has taken a significant step forward in trans rights by approving a law that allows individuals to self-declare their gender without requiring surgery.
The law, approved earlier this month by The National Assembly of People’s Power, also amends Cuba’s national civil registry, giving legal recognition to common-law partnerships and setting out a process for digitising paper records.
Minister of justice Oscar Silvera Martínez wrote on X/Twitter last week that the law “will allow the country to have a modern civil registry,” including “the issuance of digital documents with full validity and efficiency”.
La nueva Ley aprobada por @AsambleaCuba permitirá al país tener un Registro Civil moderno, gestionado con los avances de la #TransformaciónDigital, la Inteligencia Artificial, y la emisión de documentos digitales con plena validez y eficacia. #CubaLegisla #PoderPopular pic.twitter.com/dF1Ezdq4RL
— Oscar Silvera Martínez (@OscarCubaMinjus) July 18, 2025
The president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, also took to X, where he praised a separate new law which establishes protections for youngsters.
En este día felicitamos a las niñas y los niños, con mucha alegría y esperanza.
— Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (@DiazCanelB) July 20, 2025
Por ellos nos desvelamos, porque llevan en sí la inocencia, la capacidad de querer con pureza, y el futuro de la Patria. pic.twitter.com/WAwjTtZiSU
The latest move in trans rights for Cubans marks one of the most significant LGBTQ+ legal reforms since 2022, when citizens approved a broad family law code that ushered in same-sex marriage and other LGBTQ+-inclusive measures, including the right to adopt children.
Minister of foreign affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla welcomed the family code, saying: “Our people opted for a revolutionary, uplifting law that drives us to achieve social justice for which we work every day. Today, we are a better country with more rights.”
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