The island nation of Cuba will now allow transgender people to change the gender markers on their government-issued identity cards without having to undergo “bottom surgery,” a legal change long sought by the country’s trans and nonbinary communities.

On July 18, the country’s National Assembly of People’s Power (NAPP) approved a law allowing people to change their gender markers without first requiring a court-approved document proving that applicants had undergone genital affirming surgeries.

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Marriage equality wins in Cuba as voters approve LGBTQ measures
Religious groups helped stop a similar vote in 2018. This time, they weren’t successful.

This new law is one of several recently approved by the NAPP to update the technology and policies of the nation’s record-keeping system. Cuba’s new Civil Registry code will now recognize unmarried couples’ emotional unions or cohabitation agreements, providing some legal recognition of various domestic partnerships.

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In 2008, Cuba became the first Latin American country to provide comprehensive coverage for gender-affirming surgeries and related medical care. However, despite the country having the highest per capita population of medical doctors in the world, years-long U.S. trade embargo against the nation has prevented many doctors from accessing the hormone replacement medications and surgical supplies they need, according to a 2024 report from Teen Vogue.

Additionally, years worth of budget cuts by the Cuban government have forced many medical professionals to leave the island nation in search of higher-paying work abroad. As a result, trans Cubans must self-medicate using hormones purchased on the internet, something that can present risks since patients must then undergo the physical and psychological side effects without medical consultation.

CENESEX, the government-funded LGBTQ+ rights organization, ostensibly schedules trans-related healthcare for citizens. But one trans person told the aforementioned publication that the organization never contacted them back when they tried to schedule such care. CENESEX didn’t respond to the publication’s request for comment, and a security guard at the organization’s office said that CENESEX was closed and was only seeing patients “on an as-needed basis.”

Same-sex marriage is legal in Cuba. It was legalized on September 27, 2022, following a national referendum where a majority of Cubans voted in favor of a new family code that includes the legalization of same-sex marriage. The new family code also included provisions for same-sex adoption and surrogacy.

Although Cuban law currently prohibits “discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing, statelessness, or access to education or health care,” the international LGBTQ rights site Alturi.com said, “Nonetheless, societal discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity persists.”

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