A proposed reform of the Cuban constitution would shape the island’s future for years, but Cubans appear to be more interested in debating gay marriage than a multiparty system.

No other clause in the proposal has stirred so much criticism, from Catholic and Evangelical church leaders to common workers who take part in debates organized by the government, many expressing concern for the definition of marriage simply as “the union of two people.”

“This change is the one that concerns many because … the constitution … could later lead to complementary laws that, for example, legalize marriage between two people of the same sex and allow them to adopt boys or girls, depriving them of a mother or father from birth,” Archbishop Dionisio García Ibáñez of Santiago de Cuba wrote in a column published on the website of the Cuban Conference of Catholic Bishops.

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