Is Cuba Safe for Gay Travelers? What You Need to Know

Contents:

• CUBA GAY RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ARRTED AT PRI MARCH HAVANA
• GAY SEX IS STILL ILLEGAL THIS CARIBBEAN ISLAND; HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH WANTS BAN REPEALED
• CUBA MOVG TOWARDS GAY MARRIAGE AND ADOPTN RIGHTS
• GAY CUBA
• TIPS FOR GAY AND LBIAN TRAVELERS CUBA
• AS CUBA BACKS GAY MARRIAGE, CHURCH OPPOSE THE ERNMENT’S PLAN
• IS CUBA SAFE FOR GAY TRAVELERS? WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

CUBA GAY RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ARRTED AT PRI MARCH HAVANA

While there have been large grassroots movements for gay marriage, there have also been those agast ; church, for example, have released statements clarg marriage as exclively “between a man and a woman” and put up posters wh this msage.

The history for trans people Cuba is equally as dark and shameful as that for gay people; machismo also has a big impact as trans women are seen as ‘renouncg’ their masculy.

Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, A man sts his ballot on Sunday HavanaCuba has voted to legalise same-sex marriage a natnal two-thirds of the populatn voted to approve reforms a new Fay Co, which will also allow surrogate pregnanci and give gay upl the right to adopt marks a big moment for Cuba, which saw gay people persecuted and sent to work mps the 1960s and 70s. Official attus towards homosexualy on the Communist-n island have changed over the past s, partly thanks to the efforts of former lear Raúl Castro's dghter the early part of munist lear Fil Castro's le after the 1959 revolutn, homosexual men and women were sent to work mps for supposed "re-tn". Relatns wh the measure passed largely bee of the belief among many rints that “the are matters that the law should not regulate strictly, ” and s time was past overdue, Profsor Coll law also allows for surrogate pregnanci, clus measur agast genr vlence and enurag upl to equally share the load wh Lat Amerin untri have taken siar steps recent years to addrs gay rights.

GAY SEX IS STILL ILLEGAL THIS CARIBBEAN ISLAND; HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH WANTS BAN REPEALED

Rights Pappier and Cristian González Cabrera, rearchers at Human Rights Watch, wrote a lumn that was wrong for the Cuban ernment to engage “the polil pageantry of puttg dividual rights, cludg the right of gay and lbian upl to be ee om discrimatn, to a populary vote. In the 1960s, Fil Castro’s revolutnary ernment helped spread a wave of homophobia on the island when he packed gay men off to labor mps, a form of punishment and ercn to niece, Mariela Castro, has been leadg the charge for L.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, gay men were routely imprisoned for solicg sex public lotns, ernment workers lost their jobs bee of their homosexualy, and homosexual artists were censored.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Havana’s polici toward s LGBT muny began to change as munist lears around the world began to lean toward a more tolerant policy regardg homosexualy.

CUBA MOVG TOWARDS GAY MARRIAGE AND ADOPTN RIGHTS

9 For example, 1977 the Cuban Natnal Center for Sex Edutn (CENESEX) was found by the Cuban Women’s Feratn, which “enuraged a more enlightened outlook on homosexualy and started to unrme tradnal sexual prejudic and taboos. Some have argued that another explanatn for Havana’s homosexual polici is that Cuba’s ntued pennce on the Soviet Unn for tra and assistance led to a Stalist-style tolerance of homosexualy throughout the earlier part of the . 14 The annulment of many of the remag laws the Penal Co that had prohibed homosexual nduct allowed thori to release those who had been prevly imprisoned for homosexual activy.

GAY CUBA

15 Durg this perd, the Cuban thori began to show greater tolerance toward homosexualy orr to enforce safe sex and to ga polil support for the regime om the LGBT muny and om cril ternatnal observers.

The Cuban ernment began to produce films and documentari nmng discrimatn agast homosexualy, and the medil muny Cuba began to scribe homosexualy as a natural mory ndn rather than a perverse choice. In addn, prev public sndal laws that penalized those who “publicly flnted their homosexual ndn” were later changed to those who engaged “sexual sult, ” ditg a more most tone agast homosexualy.

Although he once vulgarly referred to homosexuals as “agents of imperialism, ” and praised the Cuban untrysi for supposedly beg ee of homosexualy, his recent claratns exprs a much more tolerant sentiment.

TIPS FOR GAY AND LBIAN TRAVELERS CUBA

24 Gay rights activists, both Cuba and abroad, have acced the Cuban thori of applyg the crime of “pre-crimal dangerons” unfairly to homosexuals, and ignorg plats of those who have been beaten or fired om their jobs bee of their sexual orientatn.

25 Other gay rights activists have cricized Mariela Castro for her nsistency and hypocrisy when to gay rights, argug that gay rights activists ntue to be imprisoned, beaten, or simply disappear while she provis ltle more than lip service to the issue.

AS CUBA BACKS GAY MARRIAGE, CHURCH OPPOSE THE ERNMENT’S PLAN

The most negative reviews nced the belief that the show was important, but as a way to warn people of homosexualy’s nsequenc rather than a way to promote tolerance and acceptance toward . Whether this more lenient policy translat to greater rights for gays the near future is unclear, but certaly suggts a willgns to nsir more progrsive ctoms, which is another promisg sign. That has meant a greater openg not only the once-domant Roman Catholic Church, but also to Ao-Cuban religns, prottants and of those church took advantage of the openg 2018 and 2019 to mpaign agast another plebisce which would have rewrten the nstutn a way to allow gay marriage.

Media ptn, People celebratg LGBT rights Havana are taedA number of gay rights activists have been arrted after clashg wh police at an unthorised pri march Cuba's pal, Havana. Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, A number of people marchg whout perms were arrted the palAt least three activists participatg the gay para Havana were 's annual gay pri march is an important event for the island's gay and lbian muny, which spent s the shadows and unr persecutn, says the BBC's Cuba rrponnt Will such, our rrponnt adds, the cisn by the ernment to ncel this year's event was met wh disbelief by many of those who had tend to participate. Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, The annual gay pri march is an important event for Cuba's LGBT munyLast week, the state-n Natnal Centre for Sex Edutn (CENESEX) said the official Cuban Conga agast Homophobia and Transphobia march was ncelled bee of "new tensns the ternatnal and regnal ntext" rponse, activists set up Facebook groups llg for a gatherg the pal on Saturday holds events around this time every year ahead of the Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia on 17 official events celebratg LGBT rights the untry will reportedly be gog ahead as planned.

IS CUBA SAFE FOR GAY TRAVELERS? WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Vcent and the Grenad is known for s volnic terra, spectacular ral reefs and yacht-filled the ty Eastern Caribbean untry loted the Lser Antill also has a dub reputatn when to the treatment of lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people: Its lonial-era gay sex ban. Vcent and the Grenad, the level of homophobia the untry and ntued effect of s archaic law on rights of LGBT dividuals warranted report’s release while there is currently a trial si St. Vcent and the Grenad should repeal the gay-sex provisns s crimal and pass prehensive civil anti-discrimatn legislatn that clus protectns based on sexual orientatn and genr inty.

“Every LGBT person terviewed said they wished to leave the untry and envisned their future abroad due, part, to the homophobic or transphobic vlence and discrimatn the untry, ” the report said. González said the crimalizatn of gay sex giv “tac state sanctn to the discrimatn and vlence that LGBT people experience their daily liv and pels many to look abroad to live eely and fulfill their dreams. While gay rights are the most bated part of the proposed law, s more than 400 articl ver all sorts of fay topics, cludg the rights of grandparents and grandchildren, protectn of the elrly, punishment of genr vlence and how the law als wh marriage and parental rponsibily.

That has meant a greater openg not only the once-domant Roman Catholic Church, but also to Ao-Cuban religns, prottants and of those church took advantage of the openg 2018 and 2019 to mpaign agast another plebisce which would have rewrten the nstutn a way to allow gay opposn was strong enough that the ernment at that time backed away. On an ternatnal sle, efforts to achieve regnn of LGBTQ+ rights as human rights at the UN date back to 1994, yet homosexual acts are still crimalized 76 of the 192 UN member stat. For stance, Mexi had over 1, 000 homophobic murrs only two s, and the LAC regn has four out of five untri wh the hight murr rat of transgenr and genr-diverse people worldwi, wh Brazil matag stat as one of the world’s LGBTQ+ murr pals (Berezowsky 2018; Corral 2017).

The ntext of revolutnary Cuba is important bee highlights an tertg shift om (1) pre-revolutn social norms and policy, which crimalized homosexualy wh limed social acceptance, (2) revolutnary social norms and policy, which were some of the most opprsive the untry’s history, and fally, (3) post-revolutn social norms and policy, which began to pave the way for pro-LGBTQ+ policy and greater social acceptance. In the 1970s, after the revolutn which end 1959, perspectiv began shiftg and a missn was created to vtigate and unrstand homosexual inti, which led to the crimalizatn of same-sex relatnships 1979 (Majied 2015).

In 1981, the Mistry of Culture argued that homophobic bigotry was an unacceptable attu hered by the revolutn and that all sanctns agast LGBTQ+ should be opposed (Majied 2015).