Ainoa’s Family and Cuba’s Backward Legislation

By Susana Hernandez Martin (El Toque)

HAVANA TIMES – Liusba looks at the camera and, in the meantime, her girlfriend Lisset rubs her hand up and down her back, a somewhat affectionate and protective gesture. She says that her greatest happiness, as well as being pregnant, is that she has never seen her parents so happy, because this is definitely not expected from a lesbian couple.

It’s expected here that lesbian couples are discreet, that they save their kisses for the privacy of their own homes, that they are more like sisters than girlfriends, that they are more feminine, stronger, sexy, that they have a lot of cats, that they love their nieces and nephews, that they don’t look men in the eye, that they don’t have children, that they exist, but please discreetly.

However, here are Lisset and Liusba holding hands, kissing each other affectionately, even though people call them vulgar. They live together, even though the law refuses to recognize their marriage and are happily expecting Ainoa, after Liusba risked her health, and even her life, to get pregnant. As medical clinics weren’t offering this lesbian couple fertilization treatment, they had to opt for home insemination.

Luckily, they met a couple of young gay men who also wanted to be parents and one of them became the sperm donor. After several weeks of Liusba and Lisset researching what they needed to carry out this form of artificial insemination in their home, they threw themselves into an experience that has had a happy ending, in this case.

While she rubs her belly, which is so big already that she can’t sit up straight, Liusba says that she fell pregnant after the second try, she is now 6 months pregnant, they are happy mothers and they are two wonderful fathers.

Now, more than ever, when we know that Article 82 (the “amended” version of Article 68 that would have allowed same-sex marriage) is being diluted, the story of this family is a strong reminder: Cuban reality won’t wait for a Constitution that respects it because a piece of paper doesn’t restrict our lives. Life devours papers and breaks walls to express itself.

Nevertheless, the anxiety of so many families will backslide, having to wait another two years for the debate about their rights and the risks they face because they lack legal protection and assistance.

The legislators will also find the disappointment of those who trusted in them once again, in an institutional framework that is recently creating more disappointment than joy. The National Assembly has been credited for having strengthened the fundamentalist Christian movement that will continue in this struggle, that has now been empowered in what they consider to be a moral and political victory.

In two years time, the legality of Ainoa’s family will once again be voted on and will probably have the same results for LGBTIQ+ people, because decades of discrimination can’t be forgotten in such a short time.

But, we can change the process. We can defend the idea that voting on accepting human rights is not an act of democracy but instead violence towards those who don’t have these rights guaranteed. We can demand that these people we delegate to represent us, take on the risks that appear when they choose the path of social justice for everyone.

This article was written in collaboration with Proyecto Abriendo Brechas de Colores – LGTBI

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