Cuba votes to legalize same-sex marriage, decades after LGBTQ people in the country were persecuted and sent to labor camps

• Cuba has voted to legalize same-sex marriage, election officials said on Monday.
• The country voted in a referendum to amend its Family Code, which is part of the constitution.

Cubans voted to legalize same-sex marriage, election officials said on Monday, a significant move in a country that saw harsh persecution for its LGBTQ community decades ago.

Millions of people across the country took to the polls Sunday to vote in a referendum that would amend the country's Family Code, which is a part of its constitution and has been in place since 1975. According to election results, around two-thirds of people who voted in the referendum did so in favor of the amendments.

"With [66%] of votes for Yes #Cuba ratifies the new Families Code," Cuba's embassy to the UK wrote on Twitter shortly after 8:30 a.m. local time in Havana, Cuba's capital city.

The result — which needed 50% voter approval to pass — also legalized same-sex adoption. It's a significant moment for the island country which, during the 1960s and 1970s, persecuted LGBTQ people and sent to labor camps.

Cuba's government had backed the measure to legalize same-sex marriage, the BBC reported, and campaigned for people to vote in favor of the amendment.

The country's president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, tweeted his congratulations on the vote passing Monday, and further praised the election results. And the official Twitter page for Cuba's presidential administration updated its bio to reflect the number of people who voted in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage.

Voting, meanwhile, took place as the US National Hurricane Center warned on Monday that portions of western Cuba could see "life-threatening storm surge," strong winds, flash floods, and possible mudslides because of Florida-bound Hurricane Ian.