A gay man and a woman whose sex-change operation was paid for by the state tied the knot this weekend in a first-of-its-kind wedding for Cuba. The bride, Wendy Iriepa, 37, arrived at the wedding hall in Havana in a full white gown, with flowers in her hair and holding a rainbow flag. Inside, a public notary joined the couple in a brief civil ceremony and the newlyweds kissed to cheers from friends and family. “This is the first wedding between a transsexual woman and a gay man,” said the 31-year-old groom, Ignacio Estrada. “We celebrate it at the top of our voices and affirm that this is a step forward for the gay community in Cuba.” Gay marriage is not legal in Cuba and Saturday’s wedding does nothing to change that, since Iriepa – born Alexis – is a woman in the eyes of the law. She underwent sex-change surgery in 2007 as part of a pilot programme that began in earnest the following year and made gender-reassignment procedures part of the island’s universal healthcare system. One other transgender woman married years ago, but Iriepa is the first to do so having benefited from the new policy. In the early years after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, homosexuality was considered highly suspect in Cuba along with other “alternative” forms of expression, such as US fashion trends and rock’n’roll.

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