The commission in charge of writing Communist-run Cuba's new constitution has revised an original draft to remove the concept of marriage altogether after originally amending it to open the doorway to same-sex unions.

The first draft of the new constitution, that was unveiled in July, included Article 68 redefining matrimony as gender neutral rather than between a man and a woman, a project promoted by the daughter of Communist Party head Raul Castro.

Controversy over that amendment in the macho country dominated a nationwide, three-month public consultation on the new constitution designed to update a Soviet-era one.

The most vocal critics of Article 68, the evangelical churches, threatened to shoot down the entire constitutional revamp over that single issue in the referendum on the final version scheduled for early next year.

The commission told the National Assembly on Tuesday the issue of matrimony should be addressed instead in the family code that is set to be updated shortly after the new constitution has been approved. Read more via The Thomson Reuters Foundation