The National Assembly last year approved a labor law that banned discrimination based on sexual orientation.
For Cubans from the provinces, the open display in Havana was even more liberating.
A day before Cuban president Raúl Castro was to visit the Vatican, his daughter sponsored a blessing ceremony for gay couples on an island where gay marriage remains illegal.
Elsewhere in Latin America, Argentina and Uruguay have legalized same-sex marriage, as has Mexico City, but in Cuba marriage remains a distant goal.