What ’s like to be young and gay Havana’s Malecón - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE YOUNG AND GAY HAVANA’S MALECóN
• THE BEST HAVANA GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS HAVANA
• GAY LIFE HAVANA - HAVANA FOM

WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE YOUNG AND GAY HAVANA’S MALECóN

He said that at home he feels accepted and he don’t feel the weight of the rejectn other gay Cubans feel. “The social stigma attached to beg gay predomantly Catholic Cuba is prent the same ways is everywhere else the world. ”For three weeks last year Caras-based photographer Alejandro Cegarra documented the life of a group of young gay men Havana’s famo Malecón seawall, a popular hotspot wh a vibrant nightlife.

The men all have different stori and different Cuba is beg a more gay-iendly untry, Abel still feels that he’s expected to “behave like a man, ” Cegarra told In Sight. “He n not be lite, or feme, ” Cegarra Cegarra, the moment Abel’s hoe shows “what still remas about homophobia Cuba, ” he said. Grdr is a ubiquo workg applitn geared toward gay and bisexual men, signed to help them meet other men their area.

It turns the platform more to a gay telegram system than a chattg app. Earlier this year, Grdr’s founr and chief executive, Joel Simkhai, vised Havana and hosted a Grdr-sponsored party at one of Havana’s gay clubs. Around the rner there is a gay club that has drag shows every night of the week, and was mon to see groups of gay guys stg on bench together or same-sex upl kissg or holdg hands.

THE BEST HAVANA GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS HAVANA

Cubans une for a day agast homophobia. Before bookg, I read her reviews that she was very gay-iendly, allowg her guts to brg someone home. I was faiar wh Cuba’s reprsn toward gays and lbians the past, but I also knew that a lot of progrs has been ma the past , so I wasn’t sred to e the app on the island.

Seeg openly gay people public gave me a sense of nfince that, at least Havana, I wouldn’t be targeted for beg gay. A r prepar to participate the Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia Cuba. The weekend before I left Cuba, there was a large march celebratg the Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia Havana spearhead by Mariela Castro, Raúl Castro’s dghter.

Durg the early days of the Cuban revolutn, there was an aggrsive persecutn of gays and lbians. Many who were spected of beg homosexuals were sent to work mps the untrysi and were banned om teachg posns bee they weren’t nsired good role mols. She also anized the first gay pri para 2008 and now heads Cuba’s Natnal Center for Sexual Edutn.

GAY LIFE HAVANA - HAVANA FOM

“She has changed a lot of people’s mds about gay people; we owe her a lot, ” Javier tells me. It’s mon to see guys huggg each other around the Malecón and certa parks near La Rampa, the gay area Vedado where new gay bars have popped up the last few years. Five or six years ago, you wouldn’t see people dog that public or gog to drag shows at gay bars, ” Javier tells me.