Cuba lgbtq

Gay Pride Crackdown: 4 Things to Know About LGBTQ Rights in Cuba

Why Global Citizens Should Care

Violence against LGBTQ people around the world is extremely shared and often receives the approval of the mention governments. The United Nations’ Global Goals call for an end to all xenophobia and strong protections for LGBTQ people. You can join us in taking action on equality and more here.


For the past 11 years, the Cuban government has organized an annual march against homophobia in Havana, but a week before this year’s event rolled around, the national Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) abruptly canceled it.

The decision seemed to be a part of a broader rollback of LGBTQ rights throughout the country, so local activists decided to grab matters into their retain hands by staging their own Pride march on May 12.

Dozens of people showed up to parade, wave rainbow flags, and convey solidarity in the streets of the capital city. Soon enough, however, plainclothes police officers began dispersing people and ultimately arrested three participants, according to the New York Times.

The Cuban government is notoriously opposed to spontaneous demonstrations in the streets and is sting

Cuba overwhelmingly approves same-sex marriage in referendum

Cubans have overwhelmingly approved a sweeping “family law” that would permit same-sex couples to commit and adopt, the electoral commission said, in a move that will also redefine rights for children and grandparents.

More than 3.9 million voters – 66.9 percent – voted to ratify the new code while 1.95 million or 33 percent were opposed, National Electoral Council President Alina Balseiro Gutierrez said on state-run television on Monday.

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The 100-page “family code” legalises same-sex marriage and civil unions, allows homosexual couples to adopt children, and promotes equal sharing of domestic rights and responsibilities between men and women.

Preliminary results from the electoral commission showed 74 percent of 8.4 million Cubans eligible to vote participated in the Sunday referendum.

“Love is now the law,” President Miguel Diaz-Canel wrote on Twitte

Learning about Cuba’s Gay Community

People with signs during La Conga en contra de la Homofobia y Transfobia in La Habana, Cuba, May 2023

Cuba’s held a fascination for me ever since I was in steep school in Puerto Rico. I explored the food, tune and art of the neighboring island, quite abundant in my homeland, but always knew that different perspectives and adventures could only be experienced in Cuba itself. I never imagined that 15 years later, I would be able to call on, conduct research for my doctoral dissertation in Social Labor at Simmons University, and develop lifelong friendships.

My book, The LGBT Cuban Revolution (Deletrea 2023), emerges from my analyze, visits to Cuba and personal experiences, examining the Queer movement in Cuba since the inception of the Castro-led Revolution. I was curious about how this type of government and revolution affected the Queer community. I wanted to focus solely on the experiences of the Gay community living in Cuba, hence I only included the perspectives of those “who stayed.” Many, if not all, previous books and projects have dealt with homosexuality in secondary data study interviews or with people who fled C

cuba lgbtq

“But when did you feel heard by the majority?” pleaded a Cuban and would-be LGBT activist, unknowingly socking me in the gut with a question for which my talking points would fall brief in a room full of eager Cuban citizens, alert Cuban government officials, and gay American singers visiting Havana.

In the humid and unassuming mid-morning of July 13, 2015, an ensemble of 21 singers from the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC (GMCW) took the stage at the National Library of Cuba, just steps away from Revolution Square and the monument of Cuba’s national hero Jose Martí. The Library stands as a protuberant symbol of the Cuban communist regime, safe-guarding the history and literature of a “social project” that has nationalized everything from tourism to medicine.

Our delegation, a partnership between GMCW and Youth for Understanding, was charged with promoting LGBTQ rights through song.

The nine-concert tour was the first of its kind for both organizations, and it was a first for the LGBTQ community in Cuba. In recounting more than a dozen interviews before we departed, I remember saying things like “our intent is to apply music to promote LGBTQ rights and break down ster

Right to change legal gender in Cuba is legal, no restrictions.

Current status
Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Force (NAPP) approved a regulation allowing transgender people to self-declare their gender on official documents without first undergoing surgery.

The regulation will allow citizens to change their gender marker on identification cards by request, and will no longer require applicants to provide a court direct or proof of bottom surgery.
Legal, but requires surgery
The gender marker on persona documents can only be changed if the applicant has undergone gender assurance surgery, specifically genital surgery. The petitioner must submit their request for a change of gender marker before the Civil Section of the Local Court. Next, the request is submitted to the National Commission for Comprehensive Attention to Trans People, together with the medical certification that the petitioner has undergone surgery. The tracking evidence must be accredited before the court: (1) the summary of the clinical records, (2) the descriptive medical criteria of the surgery with emphasis on its irreversibility, (3) a document confirming the intervention signed by the CENESEX,