There's a Gay Beach Havana! Disverg LGBT Life Cuba

Contents:

• CUBA PUBLISH DRAFT FAY THAT OPENS DOOR TO GAY MARRIAGE
• THERE’S A GAY BEACH HAVANA! DISVERG LGBT LIFE CUBA
• GAY PRI CRACKDOWN: 4 THGS TO KNOW ABOUT LGBTQ RIGHTS CUBA
• EVERYTHG TO KNOW ABOUT CUBA’S LGBT REVOLUTN RABOW FLAG | © HAI YANG / FLICKR JACK GUY 19 JANUARY 2018 COPY LK FACEBOOK EMAIL TWTER PTERT WHILE LGBT RIGHTS HAVE BEEN STEADILY IMPROVG CERTA PARTS OF THE WORLD, LAT AMERI HAS GENERALLY BEEN SLOW TO REGNIZE MEMBERS OF THE MUNY; THIS, HOWEVER, IS BEGNG TO CHANGE CUBA. VIEW ALL TRIPS CUBA’S PAST POLICI PERSECUTED THE LGBT MUNY LIKE FEW OTHER UNTRI CUBA IS CERTALY NO STRANGER TO THE DISMAL TREATMENT OF LGBT PEOPLE. AFTER THE 1959 REVOLUTN, MUNIST LEAR FIL CASTRO ENACTED A NUMBER OF POLICI THAT LAID BARE HIS ATTU TOWARDS THEM. GAY CUBANS WERE TAKEN TO FORCED LABOR MPS, AND AN AIDS CRISIS LED TO THE TERNMENT OF HIV-POSIVE CIZENS SANATORIUMS THAT WERE ALMOST PRISONS. TAKE A SP TO FD YOUR PERFECT SMALL-GROUP TRIP STATN PASSPORTS READY? YOUR NEXT STATN IS... VIEW TRIP SP SOUTH AI SPA MOROC MEXI CROATIA GREECE BALI TURKEY JAPAN ICELAND EGYPT INDIA THAILAND ECUADOR HOWEVER, SCE 2008, THERE HAS BEEN A SEA CHANGE THE TREATMENT OF LGBT PEOPLE CUBA. IN AN IMPORTANT STEP, THE CUBAN HEALTH SERVICE STARTED OFFERG EE GENR REASSIGNMENT SURGERY TO TRANSGENR CIZENS. THEN 2010, CASTRO ADMTED THAT HIS POLICI HAD BEEN UNJT, WHICH MAY HAVE BEEN SNT NSOLATN TO THOSE AFFECTED BUT ME TO BE SEEN AS A CCIAL ADMISSN. MEMBERS OF THE LGBT MUNY HAVANA, CUBA | © MARK MCNTRY / FLICKR NEW GENERATN FIGHTG FOR CHANGE A LOT OF CRED FOR THE CHANGE IS DUE TO MARIELA CASTRO, DGHTER OF CURRENT CUBAN LEAR RL CASTRO AND FIL’S NIECE. SHE SERV THE CUBAN PARLIAMENT AND IS ALSO DIRECTOR OF THE NATNAL CENTRE FOR SEX EDUTN. WHILE ’S NOT ENTIRELY CLEAR WHY THE STRAIGHT, MARRIED DGHTER OF THE CUBAN LEAR HAS TAKEN ON THE FIGHT FOR LGBT RIGHTS AS HER OWN, THERE HAS BEEN SIGNIFINT PROGRS THE TREATMENT OF MEMBERS OF THE MUNY. CARIBBEAN COLOMBIA DISVER COLOMBIA’S CARIBBEAN AST, OM CARTAGENA TO PALOMO VIA JUNGL, RIVERS AND ISLANDS. VIEW TRIP MARIELA CASTRO WAS THE SUBJECT OF AN HBO DOCUMENTARY LLED MARIELA CASTRO’S MARCH: CUBA’S LGBT REVOLUTN, WHICH AIRED NOVEMBER 2016. IT TELLS THE STORY OF THE ACTIVIST’S JOURNEY AROUND THE ISLAND, MEETG LGBT PEOPLE AND SPREADG A MSAGE OF TOLERANCE TO OTHER RINTS. MARIELA CASTRO WH THE FORMER CHILEAN PRINT MICHELLE BACHELET | © GOBIERNO CHILE / FLICKR ATTUS ARE CHANGG CUBA EVINCE OF CREASG ACCEPTANCE ISN’T HARD TO SPOT WHEN YOU’RE ON THE ISLAND. SAME-SEX UPL WALKG HAND HAND THE STREET BARELY RAISE AN EYEBROW HAVANA, AND THE CY OF SANTA CLARA HAS BEE SOMETHG OF A CENTER FOR THE TRANSGENR MUNY. HEAD TO THE EL MEJUNJE NIGHTCLUB TO SEE THE VIBRANT SOCIAL SCENE THAT HAS VELOPED THERE. BEE A CULTURE TRIPPER! SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER TO SAVE UP TO 40% ON OUR UNIQUE TRIPS. SIGN UP SEE PRIVACY POLICY. IF SOCIAL ATTUS ARE CHANGG, SO ARE THE LAWS. IN 2013, LEGISLATORS VOTED TO OUTLAW WORKPLACE DISCRIMATN BASED ON SEXUAL ORIENTATN, AND THERE ARE CREASG LLS TO ALLOW SAME-SEX MARRIAGE. WHILE MANY PEOPLE FD DIFFICULT TO FIVE FIL CASTRO FOR HIS ANTI-LGBT POLICI, THERE IS CREASG EVINCE THAT THGS ARE CHANGG UNR RL CASTRO, WH THE HELP OF DGHTER MARIELA. A POSTER FOR THE “DAY AGAST HOMOPHOBIA CUBA” | © ED AND EDDIE / FLICKR VOLNIC ICELAND EPIC TRIP MEET OUR LOL INSIR HANNA HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A GUIDE? 2 YEARS. WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT YOUR JOB? IT'S THE PERSONAL NTACT, THE PERSONAL EXPERIENC. I LOVE MEETG PEOPLE OM ALL OVER THE WORLD... I REALLY LIKE GETTG TO KNOW EVERYONE AND FEELG LIKE I'M TRAVELG WH A GROUP OF IENDS. WHAT DESTINATION IS ON YOUR TRAVEL BUCKET-LIST? I HAVE SO MANY PLAC ON MY LIST, BUT I WOULD REALLY LOBE TO GO TO AI. I NSIR MYSELF AN “ADVENTURE GIRL” AND AI FEELS LIKE THE ULTIMATE ADVENTURE! EVERY CULTURE TRIP SMALL-GROUP ADVENTURE IS LED BY A LOL INSIR JT LIKE HANNA. SEE OUR CULTURE TRIPS KEEN TO EXPLORE THE WORLD?
• CUBA WEL GAY RIGHTS AS PROGRSIVE FAY TAK HOLD

CUBA PUBLISH DRAFT FAY THAT OPENS DOOR TO GAY MARRIAGE

Illegal (imprisonment as punishment)Article 303 prohibs homosexual behavurs (punishable by 3 months prison and/or fancial f)Same-sex marriage Cuba?

THERE’S A GAY BEACH HAVANA! DISVERG LGBT LIFE CUBA

REUTERS/StrgerHAVANA, Sept 15 (Rters) - Cuba published a long-awaed draft of a new fay on Wednday that would open the door to gay marriage if approved, a move that LGBT rights activists appld utly as they remaed wary of whether would actually be new f marriage as the "voluntary unn of two people" whout specifyg genr, as opposed to the current fn as the "unn of a man and woman.

"The blueprt for the fay is everythg one uld have hoped for, " said Maykel Gonzalez Vivero, director of Tremenda Nota, a digal magaze that foc on women, the lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr (LGBT) muny and the Black muny.

"Cuba, which sent gays to rrectnal labor mps the early years after s 1959 leftist revolutn, ma nsirable advanc LGBT rights the 2000s and 2010s, spe the wispread persistence of island natn troduced the right to ee sex reassignment surgery, banned workplace discrimatn on the basis of sexual orientatn, and started holdg annual march agast homophobia - Cuba's equivalent of gay members of the LGBT muny say, however, they have been trated by a slowdown the pace of change recent years while a handful of other Lat Amerin untri have moved forward wh approvg gay marriage. Rights a untry that once sent gay men to labor 67 percent of voters, nearly 4 ln, voted favor, acrdg to the Cuban ernment. 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 PRI CRACKDOWN: 4 THGS TO KNOW ABOUT LGBTQ RIGHTS CUBA

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. Mariela Castro, the dghter of former Cuban print Rl Castro, has openly advoted through a ernment-fund center for improved rights for gays, lbians and transgenr people.

In 2018, Cuban legislators abandoned provisns that would have legalized same sex marriage amid fears that a homophobic backlash would have lowered turnout for a referendum to approve a new nstutn.

EVERYTHG TO KNOW ABOUT CUBA’S LGBT REVOLUTN RABOW FLAG | © HAI YANG / FLICKR JACK GUY 19 JANUARY 2018 COPY LK FACEBOOK EMAIL TWTER PTERT WHILE LGBT RIGHTS HAVE BEEN STEADILY IMPROVG CERTA PARTS OF THE WORLD, LAT AMERI HAS GENERALLY BEEN SLOW TO REGNIZE MEMBERS OF THE MUNY; THIS, HOWEVER, IS BEGNG TO CHANGE CUBA. VIEW ALL TRIPS CUBA’S PAST POLICI PERSECUTED THE LGBT MUNY LIKE FEW OTHER UNTRI CUBA IS CERTALY NO STRANGER TO THE DISMAL TREATMENT OF LGBT PEOPLE. AFTER THE 1959 REVOLUTN, MUNIST LEAR FIL CASTRO ENACTED A NUMBER OF POLICI THAT LAID BARE HIS ATTU TOWARDS THEM. GAY CUBANS WERE TAKEN TO FORCED LABOR MPS, AND AN AIDS CRISIS LED TO THE TERNMENT OF HIV-POSIVE CIZENS SANATORIUMS THAT WERE ALMOST PRISONS. TAKE A SP TO FD YOUR PERFECT SMALL-GROUP TRIP STATN PASSPORTS READY? YOUR NEXT STATN IS... VIEW TRIP SP SOUTH AI SPA MOROC MEXI CROATIA GREECE BALI TURKEY JAPAN ICELAND EGYPT INDIA THAILAND ECUADOR HOWEVER, SCE 2008, THERE HAS BEEN A SEA CHANGE THE TREATMENT OF LGBT PEOPLE CUBA. IN AN IMPORTANT STEP, THE CUBAN HEALTH SERVICE STARTED OFFERG EE GENR REASSIGNMENT SURGERY TO TRANSGENR CIZENS. THEN 2010, CASTRO ADMTED THAT HIS POLICI HAD BEEN UNJT, WHICH MAY HAVE BEEN SNT NSOLATN TO THOSE AFFECTED BUT ME TO BE SEEN AS A CCIAL ADMISSN. MEMBERS OF THE LGBT MUNY HAVANA, CUBA | © MARK MCNTRY / FLICKR NEW GENERATN FIGHTG FOR CHANGE A LOT OF CRED FOR THE CHANGE IS DUE TO MARIELA CASTRO, DGHTER OF CURRENT CUBAN LEAR RL CASTRO AND FIL’S NIECE. SHE SERV THE CUBAN PARLIAMENT AND IS ALSO DIRECTOR OF THE NATNAL CENTRE FOR SEX EDUTN. WHILE ’S NOT ENTIRELY CLEAR WHY THE STRAIGHT, MARRIED DGHTER OF THE CUBAN LEAR HAS TAKEN ON THE FIGHT FOR LGBT RIGHTS AS HER OWN, THERE HAS BEEN SIGNIFINT PROGRS THE TREATMENT OF MEMBERS OF THE MUNY. CARIBBEAN COLOMBIA DISVER COLOMBIA’S CARIBBEAN AST, OM CARTAGENA TO PALOMO VIA JUNGL, RIVERS AND ISLANDS. VIEW TRIP MARIELA CASTRO WAS THE SUBJECT OF AN HBO DOCUMENTARY LLED MARIELA CASTRO’S MARCH: CUBA’S LGBT REVOLUTN, WHICH AIRED NOVEMBER 2016. IT TELLS THE STORY OF THE ACTIVIST’S JOURNEY AROUND THE ISLAND, MEETG LGBT PEOPLE AND SPREADG A MSAGE OF TOLERANCE TO OTHER RINTS. MARIELA CASTRO WH THE FORMER CHILEAN PRINT MICHELLE BACHELET | © GOBIERNO CHILE / FLICKR ATTUS ARE CHANGG CUBA EVINCE OF CREASG ACCEPTANCE ISN’T HARD TO SPOT WHEN YOU’RE ON THE ISLAND. SAME-SEX UPL WALKG HAND HAND THE STREET BARELY RAISE AN EYEBROW HAVANA, AND THE CY OF SANTA CLARA HAS BEE SOMETHG OF A CENTER FOR THE TRANSGENR MUNY. HEAD TO THE EL MEJUNJE NIGHTCLUB TO SEE THE VIBRANT SOCIAL SCENE THAT HAS VELOPED THERE. BEE A CULTURE TRIPPER! SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER TO SAVE UP TO 40% ON OUR UNIQUE TRIPS. SIGN UP SEE PRIVACY POLICY. IF SOCIAL ATTUS ARE CHANGG, SO ARE THE LAWS. IN 2013, LEGISLATORS VOTED TO OUTLAW WORKPLACE DISCRIMATN BASED ON SEXUAL ORIENTATN, AND THERE ARE CREASG LLS TO ALLOW SAME-SEX MARRIAGE. WHILE MANY PEOPLE FD DIFFICULT TO FIVE FIL CASTRO FOR HIS ANTI-LGBT POLICI, THERE IS CREASG EVINCE THAT THGS ARE CHANGG UNR RL CASTRO, WH THE HELP OF DGHTER MARIELA. A POSTER FOR THE “DAY AGAST HOMOPHOBIA CUBA” | © ED AND EDDIE / FLICKR VOLNIC ICELAND EPIC TRIP MEET OUR LOL INSIR HANNA HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A GUIDE? 2 YEARS. WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT YOUR JOB? IT'S THE PERSONAL NTACT, THE PERSONAL EXPERIENC. I LOVE MEETG PEOPLE OM ALL OVER THE WORLD... I REALLY LIKE GETTG TO KNOW EVERYONE AND FEELG LIKE I'M TRAVELG WH A GROUP OF IENDS. WHAT DESTINATION IS ON YOUR TRAVEL BUCKET-LIST? I HAVE SO MANY PLAC ON MY LIST, BUT I WOULD REALLY LOBE TO GO TO AI. I NSIR MYSELF AN “ADVENTURE GIRL” AND AI FEELS LIKE THE ULTIMATE ADVENTURE! EVERY CULTURE TRIP SMALL-GROUP ADVENTURE IS LED BY A LOL INSIR JT LIKE HANNA. SEE OUR CULTURE TRIPS KEEN TO EXPLORE THE WORLD?

Before this, there was a long perd of tolerance; after the 1959 revolutn gay people were imprisoned “rehabilatn” mps and discrimatn was rife. This was due to pre-existg machismo culture that was further strengthened by a revolutn that saw difference as a danger and felt gay men were products of nt palism.

In 1993 Fil Castro, the then-Print, stated his opposn to anti-LGBT polici; he took rponsibily for the persecutn of homosexuals 2010.

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.

CUBA WEL GAY RIGHTS AS PROGRSIVE FAY TAK HOLD

In more nservative areas gay travellers uld be met wh some surprised or hostile rpons, although there are almost no reports of this. As discsed above, if gay travellers are lookg for somewhere that they n be open about their sexualy (and fd a great gay nightlife!

Havana is the hub of the LGBT muny, although there are also gay havens plac like Santa Clara and Mi Cayo beach (about 15 east of Havana). Usually this sectn, we say that ternatnal brand cha hotels are the saft bet for gay travellers who want a strs-ee trip. AirBnb is also beg more popular wh lols as a way to make money, so ’s worth checkg out the optns there and readg the reviews to see if they are gay-iendly.

For gay travellers who want to experience the LGBT scene of the untry, headg to the gay bars and clubs of Havana is a great place to start.