LGBT rights in Cuba
LGBT rights in Cuba | |
---|---|
Same-sex sexual activity legal? | Legal since 1979 |
Gender identity/expression | SRS provided by the government |
Military service | Yes. Since 1993. |
Discrimination protections | Yes, employment only[1][2] |
Family rights | |
Recognition of relationships | Same-sex marriage constitutionally banned |
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Cuba may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents.
Public antipathy towards LGBT people is high, reflecting regional norms. This has eased somewhat since the 1990s.[3] Educational campaigns on LGBT issues are currently implemented by the National Center for Sex Education, headed by Mariela Castro, President Raúl Castro's daughter.
History
Pre-revolution Cuba
In pre-revolution Cuba, there were a few LGBT-friendly bars in Cuban cities, such as the St. Michel, the Dirty Dick, and El Gato Tuerto in Havana.[4] But Cuba had strict laws that criminalized homosexuality and targeted gay men for harassment. "[T]o be a maricón (faggot) was to be a social outcast."[5]
[D]iscrete lesbian or gay male identities in the modern sense - identities that are based on self-definition and involve emotional as well as physical aspects of same sex relations - were rare. Erotic loyalty (and, in the case of women, subservience) to the opposite sex was assumed as normal even by homosexuals. Hence, for many Cubans of this era, homosexuality was a mere addendum to customary marital roles. Among others, it was just a profitable commodification of sexual fantasy. For the vast majority, homosexuality made life a shameful and guilt-ridden experience.[4]
Homosexuality was a component of Cuba's thriving prostitution industry,[6] with many gay men drawn into prostitution largely for visitors and servicemen from the United States.[4][7] Homosexuality also was linked to gambling and crime.[7]
Post-revolution Cuba
Homophobia and labor camps during the 1960s
With the profit motive eradicated by the revolution, the superficial tolerance of LGBT persons by the strongly homophobic Cuban society quickly evaporated. Emigration to Miami began immediately, including lesbians and gay men who had worked for United States firms or had done domestic work for the native bourgeoisie. LGBT people who already had lived largely abroad moved away permanently.[4]
[T]he homophobia and heterosexism that already existed ... became more systematized and institutionalized. Gender and sexuality explicitly entered political discourse even as vaguely worded laws increasingly targeted gender-transgressive men believed to be homosexual ... whereas lesbianism remained unnamed and invisible. Between 1959 and 1980[,] male homosexuals suffered a range of consequences from limited career options to detention in street sweeps to incarceration in labor camps. ... Long hair, tight pants, colorful shirts, so-called effeminate mannerisms, "inappropriate clothing," and "extravagant hairstyles" were seen as visible markers of male homosexuality. Such visible markers not only facilitated enforcement of homosexual repression; more broadly, visibility and gender transgressions themselves constituted a central part of the problem identified by the revolution. Even in the severest period of enforcement, Marvin Leiner reminds us, private homosexual expression was never the main target. Rather, "... the major concern, as it had always been, was with the public display of homosexuality."[8]
Many of the progressive LGBT persons who remained in Cuba became involved in counter-revolutionary activities, independently or through encouragement of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and were jailed. The 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, commando attacks from Florida bases, and internal CIA-sponsored subversion created in Cuba an increased concern over national security. Realistic fears gave rise to paranoia, and anyone who was "different" fell under suspicion. Homosexual bars and La Rampa cruising areas were perceived as centers of counter-revolutionary activities and began to be systematically treated as such.[4] The gay community was seen as a threat to the military order.[6]
Cuba's new ally, the Soviet Union, had hostile policies towards gays and lesbians, seeing homosexuality as a product of the decadent capitalist society prevailing in Cuba in the 1950s. Fidel Castro made insulting comments about homosexuality. Castro's admiring description of rural life in Cuba ("in the country, there are no homosexuals"[9]) reflected the idea of homosexuality as bourgeois decadence, and he denounced "maricones" as "agents of imperialism".[10] Castro explained his reasoning in a 1965 interview:
[W]e would never come to believe that a homosexual could embody the conditions and requirements of conduct that would enable us to consider him a true Revolutionary, a true Communist militant. A deviation of that nature clashes with the concept we have of what a militant Communist must be.[11]
According to Ian Lumsden, traditional Spanish machismo and the Catholic Church have disdained effeminate and sexually passive males for centuries. The homophobia exposed during the revolution was a mere continuation of the well-established culture of machismo and rigid gender roles of pre-revolutionary Cuba.[12] Barbara Weinstein, professor of Latin American history at New York University and co-editor of the Hispanic American Historical Review, said that gay people were defined as deviant and decadent but not weak or sick. She also claimed that the way that the Cuban revolution came to power gave it a stronger sense of masculinity than other revolutions. The guerrilla experience pervaded the political structure and the guerrilla army itself became the nucleus of a new society.[13]
Cuban gay writer Reinaldo Arenas wrote, "[T]he decade of the sixties ... was precisely when all the new laws against homosexuals came into being, when the persecution started and concentration camps were opened, when the sexual act became taboo while the 'new man' was being proclaimed and masculinity exalted."[14] LGBT persons were imprisoned frequently, particularly effeminate males, without charge or trial, and confined to forced labor camps.
Camps of forced labour were instituted with all speed to "correct" such deviations ... Verbal and physical mistreatment, shaved heads, work from dawn to dusk, hammocks, dirt floors, scarce food ... The camps became increasingly crowded as the methods of arrest became more expedient ...[15]
In 1965, the country-wide Military Units to Aid Production (UMAP) program was set up as an alternative form of military service for pacifist religious groups, such as Jehovah Witnesses, hippies, conscientious objectors, and gay men. It was believed that the work, together with the strict regimes operating within the UMAP camps, would "rehabilitate" the participants. The camps became notorious inside and outside Cuba.[6] Although the camps ended up targeting gay men more than most, "there is no evidence that [they] were created with homosexuals exclusively in mind."[12]
A homosexual man who worked in a UMAP camp described the conditions there as follows, "[W]ork is hard because it's nearly always in the sun. We work 11 hours a day (cutting marble in a quarry) from seven in the morning to seven at night, with one hour's lunch break."[16] Fidel Castro visited one of the UMAP camps incognito to experience the treatment for himself. He was followed by 100 boys from the Young Communist League whose identity was also kept secret. In 1968, shortly after these visits, the camps closed.[6] Castro said, "They weren't units of internment or punishment.... However, after a visit I discovered the distortion in some places, of the original idea, because you can't deny that there were prejudices against homosexuals. I personally started a review of this matter. Those units only lasted three years."[17]
Many gay artists and intellectuals like Reinaldo Arenas were attracted to the socialist promise of an egalitarian society, which would pave the way for cultural and sexual freedom and social justice. Gay writers largely wrote the popular journal Lunes de Revolución. Its radical ideas seemed to enjoy the favor of the Cuban government. But a couple of years after Castro's rise to power, this journal was closed down amidst a wave of media censorship. Its gay writers were publicly disgraced, refused publication, and dismissed from their jobs. Some were reassigned to work as janitors and labourers.[18]
This period was dramatically documented by the 1980s documentary Improper Conduct, Reinaldo Arenas in his 1992 autobiography, Before Night Falls, as well as his fiction, most notably The Color of Summer and Farewell to the Sea.
Negative attitudes during most of the 1970s
Homophobia in Cuba persisted in the 1970s.
Although the UMAP program ended in 1968, the camps themselves continued. They became military units, and the same types of men were sent there as were sent to the UMAP camps. The only difference was that the men were paid a pitiful salary for their long and harsh working hours while living under very difficult and inhumane conditions.[19] A 1984 documentary, Improper Conduct, interviewed several men who had been sent to these camps. In his autobiography, My Life, Fidel Castro claims the internment camps were used in lieu of the mistreatment homosexuals were receiving in the military during the Cuban intervention in Angola and other conflicts. They would do laborious tasks and be housed roughly, but some saw it as better than joining the Cuban military because there, they would often be publicly humiliated and discharged by homophobic elements.[20]
After a discussion of homosexuality at the Cuban Educational and Cultural Congress in April 1971, homosexuality was declared to be a deviation incompatible with the revolution. Homosexuality was considered sufficient grounds for discriminatory measures to be adopted against the gay community, and homophobia was institutionalised. Gay and lesbian artists, teachers, and actors lost their jobs. Gays and lesbians were expelled from the Communist Party. Students were expelled from university. Gays were prohibited from having contact with children and young people. Gays were not allowed to represent their country.[6]
Effeminate boys were forced to undergo aversion therapy.[21]
In 1975, the People's Supreme Court found in favour of a group of marginalised gay artists who were claiming compensation and reinstatement in their place of work. The court's ruling was the initial change in official attitudes towards gays and lesbians. In the same year, a new Ministry of Culture was formed under the leadership of Armando Hart Dávalos, resulting in a more liberal cultural policy. In addition, a commission was established to investigate homosexuality, leading to the decriminalisation of same-sex relationships in 1979.[6]
Gradual liberalization during the 1980s
Cuban gays were expelled or took the opportunity to leave Cuba during the 1980 Mariel boatlift. From the early stages of the massive exodus, the government described homosexuals as part of the "scum" that needed to be discarded so the socialist society could be purified.[22] Some homosexuals were given the ultimatum of either imprisonment (or extended terms for those already imprisoned) or leaving the country, although Fidel Castro publicly denied that anyone was being forced to leave.[8]
In 1981, the Ministry of Culture stated in a publication entitled "In Defence of Love" that homosexuality was a variant of human sexuality. The ministry argued that homophobic bigotry was an unacceptable attitude inherited by the revolution and that all sanctions against gays should be opposed.[6]
In 1986, the National Commission on Sex Education publicly opined that homosexuality was a sexual orientation and that homophobia should be countered by education.[6] Gay author Ian Lumsden has claimed that since 1986 there is "little evidence to support the contention that the persecution of homosexuals remains a matter of state policy".[12]
In 1988, the government repealed the 1938 Public Ostentation Law and the police received orders not to harass LGBT people. In a 1988 interview with Galician television, Castro criticised the rigid attitudes that had prevailed towards homosexuality.[6]
Toward the end of the 1980s, literature with gay subject matter began to re-emerge.
More rapid liberalization since 1990
In a 1993 interview with a former Nicaraguan government official, Tomás Borge, Fidel Castro declared that he opposed policies against LGBT people as he considered homosexuality to be a natural tendency that should be respected. The same year, a series of sex education workshops was run throughout the country carrying the message that homophobia was a prejudice.[6] That same year, the government lifted its ban on allowing LGBT persons from serving openly in the military. Since 1993, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender persons may serve in the Cuban Military. However, discrimination is still common in the Cuban Military so LGBT persons serving tend to hide their sexual orientation while serving.
In 1994, the feature film Strawberry and Chocolate, produced by the government-run Cinema of Cuba and Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, featured a gay main character. The film criticised the country's narrow, doctrinaire ways of thinking in the 1970s and discussed anti-gay prejudice and the unjust treatment suffered by gays. The film provoked a great deal of comment and discussion among the public.[6]
In 1995, Cuban drag queens led the annual May Day procession, joined by two gay delegations from the United States.[6]
According to a Human Rights Watch report, "the government [in 1997] ... heightened harassment of homosexuals, raiding several nightclubs known to have gay clientele and allegedly beating and detaining dozens of patrons."[23] Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar was reported to be among several hundred people detained in a raid on Havana's most popular gay discothèque, El Periquiton.[24] According to a United States government report, Cuban customers of the club were fined and warned of imprisonment if they did not stop publicly displaying their homosexuality. The foreigners who were detained were released after a check of their documents. Many of the Cuban gay and lesbian clientele were reportedly beaten by police.[25] This crackdown extended to other known gay meeting places throughout the capital, such as Mi Cayito, a beach east of Havana, where gays were arrested, fined, or threatened with imprisonment.[25]
After this crackdown, Cuban gays and lesbians began keeping a lower profile amid intermittent sweeps of gay and lesbian meeting places. Castro's apparent criticism of Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and his last film Guantanamera during a speech in February 1998[26] seemed to cast a further chill over Cuba's gay community. Still, a number of clandestine gay clubs continued to operate sporadically in private homes.[25]
In December 2000, half of all the Latin American films shown at the Havana Film Festival had gay themes. Gay and lesbian film festivals are now run in a number of Cuban cities, and in October 2005, a Sexual Diversity Cinema Week was held in Pinar del Río.[6]
Yet, in 2001 the police operated a campaign against homosexuals and transvestites, who police prevented from meeting in the street and fined, closing down meeting places.[27]
In 2004, the soap opera El jardín de los helechos (Garden of Ferns) included a lesbian couple as part of its plot.[6] That same year, however, the BBC reported that "Cuban police have once again launched a campaign against homosexuals, specifically directed at travestis (transvestites) whom they are arresting if they are dressed in women's clothing."[28]
Carlos Sanchez, the male representative of the International Lesbian, Gay, Trans and Intersex Association for the Latin America and Caribbean Region, visited Cuba in 2004. While there, he asked about the status of lesbians and gays in the country and asked the Cuban government why it had abstained from the vote on the "Brazilian Resolution", a 2003 proposal to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights that would symbolically recognise the "occurrence of violations of human rights in the world against persons on the grounds of their sexual orientation." The government argued that the resolution could be used to further attack and isolate Arab countries, consistent with "North American aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq". Sanchez also asked about the possibility of creating an LGBT organization in Cuba. The government said that the formation of the organization would distract attention from national security in light of constant threats from the United States. After meeting with some Cuban LGBT people, Sanchez reported the following observations:[29]
- "Neither institutional nor penal repression exists against lesbians and homosexuals."
- "There are no legal sanctions against LGBT people."
- "People are afraid of meeting and organizing themselves. It is mainly based on their experience in previous years, but one can assume that this feeling will disappear in the future if lesbians and gays start to work and keep working and eventually get support from the government. (The National Center for Sexual Education is offering this support)."
- "'Transformismo' (drag performance) is well accepted by the majority of the Cuban population."
- "There is indeed a change in the way people view homosexuality, but this does not mean the end of discrimination and homophobia. The population is just more tolerant of lesbians and homosexuals."
- "Lesbians and gays do not consider fighting for the right to marriage, because that institution in Cuba does not have the same value that it has in other countries. Unmarried and married people enjoy equal rights."
In 2006, the state-run Cuban television began running a serial soap opera titled La Otra Cara De La Luna (The Other Face of the Moon) in which a married man "discovers himself" through a sexual relationship with a male friend.[30] Cuban gays described the narrative as a pivotal moment in Cuba's long history of discrimination against LGBT people.
In 2012, Adela Hernandez became the first known transgender person to hold public office in Cuba, winning election as a delegate to the municipal government of Caibarien in the central province of Villa Clara.[31]
Fidel Castro takes responsibility
In his autobiography My Life, Fidel Castro criticized the machismo culture of Cuba and urged for the acceptance of homosexuality. He made several speeches to the public regarding discrimination against homosexuals.
In a 2010 interview with Mexican newspaper La Jornada, Castro called the persecution of homosexuals while he was in power "a great injustice, great injustice!" Taking responsibility for the persecution, he said, "If anyone is responsible, it's me.... We had so many and such terrible problems, problems of life or death. In those moments, I was not able to deal with that matter [of homosexuals]. I found myself immersed, principally, in the Crisis of October, in the war, in policy questions." Castro personally said that the negative treatment of gays in Cuba arose out of the country's pre-revolutionary attitudes toward homosexuality.[32]
Modern issues
Legality of homosexuality
Private, non-commercial sexual relations between same-sex consenting adults 16 and over have been legal in Cuba since 1979.[33]
Legal recognition of same-sex unions
Article 36 of the Constitution of Cuba defines marriage as "the voluntarily established union between a man and a woman".[34] Under Article 2 of the Family Code, marriage is restricted to the voluntary union of a man and a woman.[35]
No alternative to marriage such as civil unions or domestic partnerships is available. Several measures favorable to the LGBT community, including the legalization of same-sex unions, have not passed the National Assembly of People's Power, Cuba's parliament.[36][37]
Equal opportunity
Employment discrimination on account of sexual orientation is prohibited by law.[38] The equal opportunity law does not cover gender identity, and LGBT discrimination in other sectors of society -such as education, housing and public accommodations -is not addressed in the non-discrimination laws.
Social conditions
Sex reassignment surgeries
Since June 2008, qualifying Cubans have been able to have free sex reassignment surgeries.[39][40]
Freedom of association
According to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association and other sources, Cuba's only gay and lesbian civil rights organization, the Cuban Association of Gays and Lesbians, was formed in 1994 by eighteen people but was effectively shut down and its members arrested in 1997.[41][42]
Since 2008, the National Center of Sex Education has sponsored some LGBT festivals and pride events.
In 2013, a week of drag shows, colourful marches, and social and cultural events in Havana culminated with celebrations of the International Day Against Homophobia.[43]
In 2015, the project "Nosotros también amamos" which demands the legalisation of same sex couples, was funded by the human rights organisations "Corriente Martiana", "Fundación Cubana por los Derechos de la comunidad de Lesbianas, Gay, Bisexuales, Trans e Intersex (LGBTI)" and the gay project "SHUI TUIX".[44]
Nosotros también amamos
The project led by the Cuban human rights organisation "Corriente Martina"[45] claims the right of same sex marriage in Cuba.
In June 2016, "Babel" a socio-cultural Cuban project, which is a main supporter of the project declares: "All people are equal in dignity and rights beyond what differentiates us as race, skin color, sex, national origin, political, religious, ideological or sexual preferences, amongst other things"[46]
Works
Films
- Lizette Vila's documentary films, Y hembra es el alma mía (1992) and Sexualidad: un derecho a la vida (2004), profile the lives of Cuban male-to-female transsexuals and travestis.
- Mauvaise Conduite or Improper Conduct a 1984 documentary film directed by Néstor Almendros and Orlando Jiménez Leal about the UMAP labor camps.
- Before Night Falls (2000), directed by Julian Schnabel, is based on the autobiography of Reinaldo Arenas by the same name.
- Fresa y Chocolate, (Strawberry and Chocolate, 1993) directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío, focuses on a conflicted relationship between a committed Marxist student and a flamboyantly gay artist. It was the first Cuban film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.
Books
- Furia del Discurso Humano (The Fury of Human Discourse) is a novel by Miguel Correa Mujica, the celebrated author of Al Norte del Infierno, that addresses the topic of persecution of homosexuals in Cuba.[47]
Summary table
Same-sex sexual activity legal | Since 1979 |
Equal age of consent | Since 1979 |
Anti-discrimination laws in employment | Since 2013 |
Anti-discrimination laws in the provision of goods and services | |
Anti-discrimination laws in all other areas (incl. indirect discrimination, hate speech) | |
Same-sex marriage | (Constitutional ban since 1976) |
Recognition of same-sex couples | (Proposed) |
Step-child adoption by same-sex couples | |
Joint adoption by same-sex couples | |
Gays and lesbians allowed to serve openly in the military | Since 1993 |
Right to change legal gender | Since 2008 |
Access to IVF for lesbians | |
Commercial surrogacy for gay male couples | |
Conversion therapy banned on minors | |
MSMs allowed to donate blood | Since 1979 |
See also
- CENESEX, National Center for Sex Education
- El Mejunje
- Ediciones El Puente
General:
References
- ↑ (Spanish) Gaceta Oficial No. 29 Extraordinaria de 17 de junio de 2014
- ↑ (Spanish) Entra en vigor nuevo Código de Trabajo
- ↑ Rachel Evans, "Rainbow Cuba: the sexual revolution within the revolution" Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal (23 December 2011).
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Homosexuality, Homophobia, and Revolution: Notes toward an Understanding of the Cuban Lesbian and Gay Male Experience", Lourdes Arguelles and B. Ruby Rich, Signs, "The Lesbian Issue (Summer, 1984)", vol. 9, no. 4
- ↑ "Homosexuality in Cuba: revolution within the revolution", authored by Jo Ellis, greenleft.news, 4 July 1999
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "Gay and Lesbian Rights in Cuba", Cuba Solidarity Campaign, page 3
- 1 2 "From Persecution To Acceptance? The History Of LGBT Rights In Cuba", The Cutting Edge News, reported by Justin Halatyn, 24 October 2012
- 1 2 "'Obvious Gays' and the State Gaze: Cuban Gay Visibility and U.S. Immigration Policy during the 1980 Mariel Boatlift", Journal of the History of Sexuality, authored by Susana Peña, September 2007, volume 16, number 3, pages 486-7, published by University of Texas Press
- ↑ Gay Rights and Wrongs in Cuba,, Peter Tatchell (2002), published in the "Gay and Lesbian Humanist", Spring 2002. An earlier version was published in a slightly edited form as "The Defiant One", in The Guardian, Friday Review, 8 June 2001.
- ↑ Llovio-Menéndez, José Luis (1988). Insider: My Hidden Life as a Revolutionary in Cuba, Bantam Books, New York, pages 156-158, 172-174
- ↑ Lockwood, Lee (1967). Castro's Cuba, Cuba's Fidel, revised edition: October 1990, page 124, ISBN 0-8133-1086-5
- 1 2 3 Machos, Maricones, and Gays: Cuba and Homosexuality, by Ian Lumsden. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996. ISBN 1-56639-371-X
- ↑ "Che Guevara: liberator or facilitator?", by Drew Himmelstein, 29 October 2004
- ↑ "Whorehouse of the Caribbean", Salon, authored by Jonathan Lerner, 4 January 2001, quoting Before Night Falls, authored by Reinaldo Arenas, Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-015765-4
- ↑ Katherine Hirschfeld. Health, politics, and revolution in Cuba since 1898.
- ↑ Cardenal, Ernesto, 1974. In Cuba, New Directions Books, page 68
- ↑ Ramonet, Ignacio, 2006. Cien Horas con Fidel: Conversaciones con Ignacio Ramonet, Oficina de Publicaciones del Consejo de Estado, 2nd edition, Havana, pages 253-55
- ↑ Marshall, Peter (1987). Cuba Libre: Breaking the Chains?, London : Victor Gollancz, 1987. ISBN 1-55778-652-6
- ↑ "Concentration Camps in Cuba: The UMAP", Totalitarian Images, 6 February 2010
- ↑ "Raul Castro's Daughter Leads Gay Rights Conga". Fight for Change. 16 May 2009. Archived from the original on 22 May 2009.
- ↑ Disingenuous apology for Castro's persecution of homosexuals, Steven O. Murray's review of Lumsden's book, 19 June 2001. Stephen O. Murray is a sociologist who has written several widely read works, including "Latin American Male Homosexualities" (University of New Mexico Press, 1995) and "Homosexualities", (University of Chicago 2000).
- ↑ "A Long Way from Mariel", Miami Herald, reported by Daniel Shoer-Roth, 23 April 2005
- ↑ "World Report 1998 (Cuba)", Human Rights Watch
- ↑ "Government Attacks Against Homosexuals", APIC, reported by Jesus Zuñiga, 3 September 1997
- 1 2 3 "Cuba: Status of homosexuals", United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security, 9 August 1999
- ↑ "Cuba: Ideology Shake up Threatens Cultural Liberalization", Inter Press Service, published on the CNN website, 4 March 1998
- ↑ (Spanish) "¿Nueva campaña contra gays en Cuba?", BBC Mundo, reported by Fernando Ravsberg, 23 February 2001
- ↑ (Spanish) "Cuba: 'campaña' contra travestis", BBC Mundo, reported by Fernando Ravsberg, 26 July 2004
- ↑ "Carlos Sanchez, ILGA LAC rep tells us about his Cuban experience", International Lesbian, Gay, Trans and Intersex Association, 12/3/2004
- ↑ "Controversial gay soap opera grips Cuba", BBC Mundo, reported by Fernando Ravsberg, 3 May 2006
- ↑ "Transgender woman 1st to win office in Cuba", The Associated Press, reported by Andrea Rodriguez, carried on The Jakarta Post website, 17 November 2012
- ↑ "Fidel Castro takes blame for 1960s gay persecution". The Globe and Mail. Reuters. 31 August 2010. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
- ↑ "Cuba's gay rights revolution", Global post, Megan Sweas, 29 June 2012.
- ↑ Article 36, Constitution of the Republic of Cuba, 1992
- ↑ "Legal and Ethical Aspects of HIV/AIDS in Cuba", MEDICC Review, authored by Evelio J. Alpízar Pérez, María E. Cobas Cobiella, and Mercedes Rodríguez Acosta, 2001, presented at the 4th International Conference on HIV/AIDS in Cuba, Central America and the Caribbean, Havana, Cuba, January, 2000
- ↑ "Change of sex will be free". Progreso Weekly.
- ↑ Voss, Michael (27 March 2008). "Castro champions gay rights in Cuba". BBC News. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
- ↑ "Is Cuba becoming a haven for LGBT rights?". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2016-01-03.
- ↑ "Cuba approves sex change operations", Reuters, 6 June 2008
- ↑ "Cuba to provide free sex-change", BBC News, 7 June 2008
- ↑ "Gays Wed In Cuba: The Second Revolution", The Gully.com, authored by Juan Pérez Cabral, 2001
- ↑ "Cuban LGBT activists cite progress, ongoing harassment", Washington Blade, reported by Michael K. Lavers, 17 September 2012
- ↑ "Cuba's Gay Community Celebrates 'International Day Against Homophobia And Transphobia' (PHOTOS)", Associated Press, printed in the Huffington Post, 17 May 2013
- ↑ Cuba, Corriente Martiana (2015-12-07). "Nosotros también amamos: Campaña a favor del matrimonio igualitario en Cuba". Corriente Martiana. Retrieved 2016-08-09.
- ↑ "Corriente Martiana". Corriente Martiana (in Spanish). Retrieved 2016-08-10.
- ↑ victor manuel duenas otero (2016-06-09), NTA Victor, retrieved 2016-08-10
- ↑ Rosero, Jessica; "A voice for the Homeless" Author Tackles Homosexuality in the Cuban Machista Society; The Union City Reporter; 18 February 2007; Page 5
External links
- Gay Rights in Cuba Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 181 October/November 2004
- Gay Cuba 1997-2013 Stories about gay Cuba 1997-2013
- Our Secrets Are Safe Tonight A look at the underground gay scene in Havana, Cuba in 2006
- A Rainbow Flag Over Habana by Marina Sitrin, Upside Down World, 28 May 2009
- In Paying for Sex Changes, Cuba Breaks from Past by Will Weissert, The Seattle Times, 11 March 2010