Mariela Castro, the daughter of Cuban
President Raul Castro and niece of Fidel Castro, has congratulated
Uruguay on passage of a gay marriage bill.
The
Uruguay parliament on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill
which overhauls the nation's marriage laws and includes gay and
lesbian couples. President Jose Mujica, whose ruling Broad Front
coalition backed the measure, has repeatedly said he'll sign the bill
into law.
“I love it and congratulations. Once
again another Latin American nation has succeeded, as we congratulate
the DF [Federal District] in Mexico, Argentina, which approved a very
advanced law,” Castro told reporters on Friday.
Castro, who heads the National Center
for Sex Education (Cenesex), began introducing pro-gay reforms to the
Communist Party in 2005. Her center has also mounted public
campaigns to educate people about the issues surrounding
homosexuality and transsexualism.
Last year, she announced a proposal to
legalize civil unions for gay couples, which has yet to reach
Parliament.
“We are talking to see what
possibilities there are for that [measure] to be presented this year”
in Parliament, said Castro, who was elected and sworn in as a deputy
in February.