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.

More than 1,000 gay, lesbian and transgender Cubans marched through Havana on Saturday, proudly displaying their truest selves for a day in a society where they still endure discrimination.

The Eighth Annual March against Homophobia and Transphobia took on extra meaning for about 20 couples who participated in a “Celebration of Love”, symbolically exchanging vows.

The couples held hands or embraced as American and Canadian protestant clergy members blessed them. It was part of official ceremonies leading up to the Global Day against Homophobia on 17 May.

Mariela Castro leads the march in Havana. Photograph: Alejandro Ernesto/EPA

Castro’s daughter, Mariela, heads Cuba’s Center for Sex Education, which has been pushing for gay rights in a country with a history of persecuting homosexuals.

Cuba has also been growing closer to the Catholic Church, which had a troubled relationship with the communist government during much of the Cold War.

Mariela Castro was careful not to call Saturday’s ceremony a wedding, though it was inspired by the mass wedding of more than 100 couples at the World Pride event in Toronto last June.

“Our family accepts us but society doesn’t,” said Raúl Orta, who “married” his partner of 13 years, Yaimel Medina. “If one us is no longer here tomorrow, the other one loses everything. That’s not right.”

The parade, with the beat of conga drums and the waving of rainbow-colored banners, gave gay Cubans and their supporters a rare opportunity to celebrate without fear.

“For eight years we’ve been living a dream we never thought would have been possible,” Orta said of the parade.

For Cubans from the provinces, the open display in Havana was even more liberating.

A couple performs a symbolic marriage with US Reverend Roger LaRade in Havana. Photograph: Adalberto Roque/AFP/Getty Images

“In the interior of the country, you couldn’t even dream about an event like this,” said Raiza Marmol, who moved from Camaguey two years ago and exchanged vows with her partner of two years, Yatiana Garcia. “It’s a unique event and surprising for gays who can show their faces without having to hide from anyone.”

Cuba once sent gays to labor camps, which retired leader later Fidel Castro admitted was wrong.

The National Assembly last year approved a labor law that banned discrimination based on sexual orientation. But Mariela Castro voted against the law in an extremely rare and possibly unprecedented dissenting vote because the law did not also ban discrimination based on gender identity.

Elsewhere in Latin America, Argentina and Uruguay have legalized same-sex marriage, as has Mexico City, but in Cuba marriage remains a distant goal.

“It’s not important for us to be first. It’s important to get there,” Mariela Castro told reporters on Saturday.