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3.8l.1-.09zm6.41-19.6a9.78 9.78 0 01-6.91 2.3 8.92 8.92 0 01-6.3-2.9l-.2.1v14.6h3.8l9.7-14zm22.9 43.41l-8.8-6.91-2.71 2.7-1.3-1.29 3.1-3.21V39.4H671l-.2-.2 3.5-5.2h2.5v-6.7L687.41 16l.2.2V34h8l.2.2-3.5 5.2h-4.7v30.3l4.8 3.7 3.3-3.4 1.3 1.4z"></path></svg><span class="alic gray font-xxxxs font--body">Democracy Di Darkns</span></div></div><hear class="w-100" data-qa="ma-full"><div class="hi-for-prt"><div class="wpds-c-bHXelH wpds-c-kBYYkb wpds-c-bHXelH-fGHEql-maxWidth-fluid wpds-c-bHXelH-iiAiuHj-css"><nav aria-label="Sectn" class="wpds-c-bJFhqa wpds-c-bJFhqa-eLuFnJ-hasBorr-te wpds-c-bJFhqa-hIlwIL-alignment-left wpds-c-bJFhqa-eDNePg-cv flex overflow-hidn overflow-xscroll mw-vw-100 grid-mobile-full-bleed" data-qa="sendary-nav" tabx="0"><div class="wpds-c-fSNrbZ"><a data-qa="sendary-nav-primary-lk" href=" by history_tle" class="wpds-c-kXFwZK wpds-c-kXFwZK-KuHyo-upperCaseLabel-te wpds-c-kXFwZK-gYpUjR-font-meta wpds-c-kXFwZK-hbKkTl-labelColor-black">Ma by History</a><a class="wpds-c-jWXnFc 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wpds-c-PJLV-jYXVnY-lor-black wpds-c-PJLV-mlvxn-size-lg"></div></div><div class="PJLV PJLV-iklXUFA-css"><h1 class="PJLV PJLV-iirWFJy-css overriStyl" data-ttid="headle" data-qa="headle" id="ma-ntent"><span data-qa="headle-text" class="PJLV">Communist stat have sometim been havens for LGBTQ rights</span></h1></div><h2 class="font--subhead font-light offblack mb-sm pb-xxs-ns subheadle" data-qa="subheadle" style="max-width:1000px">When munism was queer</h2><div class="flex prt-byle prt-mt-none"><div class="byle-wrapper flex-lumn flex"><div class="PJLV PJLV-ihSmMVC-css"><div class="PJLV PJLV-iPJLV-css mb-xxs overriStyl" style="gap:0.5rem" data-qa="thor-byle"><span class="wpds-c-PJLV"><div class="flex" data-qa="thor-byle"><div class="mr-sm flex lh-0"><div class="wpds-c-iTcer"><img src=" alt="" class="wpds-c-dgBqAZ"/></div></div><span class="left"><div class="flex"><div class="dib font-xxs mb-xxs" data-qa="name-wh-optnal-lk" data-cy="name-wh-optnal-lk"><span data-qa="attributn-text" class="wpds-c-cNdzuP">Perspective by <!-- --> </span><span data-qa="thor-name" rel="thor" class="wpds-c-cNdzuP wpds-c-cNdzuP-cIdiJW-isLk-false">Samuel Huneke</span></div></div><span class="wpds-c-ewNrgJ thor-scriptn" data-qa="thor-scriptn">Samuel Huneke is a historian of morn Germany and an assistant profsor of history at Gee Mason Universy.</span></span></div></span></div></div><div data-ttid="timtamp" class="wpds-c-kgabfe wpds-c-kgabfe-ieEDlgV-css"><span data-ttid="display-date" class="wpds-c-iKQyrV">March 22, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. EDT</span></div></div></div></hear></div><article class="grid-article mb-xxl-ns" data-qa="ma"><div data-ttid="le-art" data-qa="le-art" class=""><figure class="overflow-hidn relative hi-for-prt center center mb-sm mb-md-ns ml-to-ns mr-to-ns grid-mobile-full-bleed"><div style="filter:blur(10px);transn:filter .1s;le-height:0" class="w-100 mw-100 h-to" width="600" height="403"><img style="background-size:ver;max-width:1600px;background-image:url('data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http%3A//; xmlns%3Axlk='http%3A//; viewBox='0 0 1280 853'%3E%3Cfilter id='b' lor-terpolatn-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGssianBlur stdDeviatn='.5'%3E%3C/feGssianBlur%3E%3CfeComponentTransfer%3E%3CfeFuncA type='discrete' tableValu='1 1'%3E%3C/feFuncA%3E%3C/feComponentTransfer%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage filter='url(%23b)' x='0' y='0' height='100%25' width='100%25' xlk%3Ahref='data%3Aimage/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAkAAAAGCAIAAACepSOSAAAACXBIWXMAAC4jAAAuIwF4pT92AAAAs0lEQVQI1wGoAFf/AImSoJSer5yjs52ktp2luJuluKOpuJefsoCNowB+kKaOm66grL+krsCnsMGrt8m1u8mzt8OVoLIAhJqzjZ2tnLLLnLHJp7fNmpyjqbPCqLrRjqO7AIeUn5ultaWtt56msaSnroZyY4mBgLq7wY6TmwCRfk2Pf1uzm2WulV+xmV6rmGyQfFm3nWSBcEIAfm46jX1FkH5Djn5AmodGo49MopBLlIRBfG8yj/dfjF5TUAAAAASUVORK5CYII='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E')" alt="" class="w-100 mw-100 h-to" width="600" height="403" srcSet=" 400w, 540w, 691w, 767w, 916w, 1200w" siz="(max-width: 440px) 440px,(max-width: 600px) 691px,(max-width: 768px) 691px,(m-width: 769px) and (max-width: 1023px) 960px,(m-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1299px) 530px,(m-width: 1300px) and (max-width: 1439px) 691px,(m-width: 1440px) 916px,440px" dg="async"/></div><figptn class="ml-gutter mr-gutter mr-to-ns ml-to-ns font--subhead font-xxxs mt-xs left gray-dark">Football supporters wh LGBT pri flags at the Allianz Arena Munich on June 23. 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In the last year, the Cuban health mistry <a href=">unfurled</a> an enormo rabow flag to mark Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia, and former print Raúl Castro <a href=">clared</a> that nontg homophobia remaed one of the ernment’s chief goals.</p></div></div><div></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><div class="db dn-ns mr-neg-gutter ml-neg-gutter mb-md hi-for-prt" data-qa="subscribe-promo"><div data-orientatn="horizontal" role="separator" class="wpds-c-dbVHzF wpds-c-dbVHzF-hDkAcj-variant-flt"></div><a class="pt-sm pb-sm flex ems-center bold font-xxxs font-xxs-ns jtify-center" href=" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" style="lor:#166dfc;borr:none"><svg class="ntent-box" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" xmlns=" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img"><tle>Wp</tle><path d="M11.055 8.728l-1.018-1.019-.782.782v6.292l1.782 1.564.018-.019v-7.6zm-4.11.236L5.674 7.71l-.836.855v6.237l1.545 1.327.564-.636V8.964zm2.656 9.074l-2.528-2.182-1.927 2.182-2.619-2.255v-3.564h-.509c-.454 0-.672.273-.745.636H1.09a2.89 2.89 0 0 1-.091-.69c0-.473.2-1.71 1.527-1.71V7.691c0-1.073-.709-1.127-.709-2.054 0-1.037.982-2 2.782-2.637l.164.145c-.6.291-1.09.655-1.09 1.437 0 1.2 1.163.89 1.163 2.782v.727l2.127-2.236 2.237 2.2 2.109-2.2 2.036 2v6.728l-3.745 3.455zm11.108-9.625l-1.073-.982-.964 1.018v6.6c.855.11 1.491.4 2.019.964l.018-.018V8.413zm-2.382.418l-.528.545v10.237l.528.492V8.83zm1.49 9.055c-.308-.382-.69-.709-1.145-.836v3.782l-.036.018-1-.927-2.11 1.945-.036-.018V16.96c-.636.145-1.327.545-1.854 1.2l-.146-.091c.127-1.4.818-2.436 2-2.837v-3.545h-.382c-.527 0-.89.363-.963.763h-.219c-.054-.145-.127-.381-.127-.836 0-.891.6-1.564 1.582-1.564h.11V8.085l-.655-.582-.51.51-.254-.237 2.018-2.073 1.71 1.564V9.05l.527-.564v-2.09h.345v1.727l2.273-2.419L23 7.576v7.91l-3.182 2.4z" fill-le="evenodd"></path></svg><span class="mr-xs ml-xs gray-darkt flex ems-center">Get the full experience.<span class="ml-xs subs-theme blue">Choose your plan</span></span><svg class="ntent-box" width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 16 16" xmlns=" style="fill:#166dfc" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img"><tle>ArrowRight</tle><path d="M7.664 1.25l6 6a1 1 0 010 1.414l-6 6L6.25 13.25 10.499 9H2V7h8.585L6.25 2.664 7.664 1.25z" fill-le="nonzero"></path></svg></a><div data-orientatn="horizontal" role="separator" class="wpds-c-dbVHzF wpds-c-dbVHzF-hDkAcj-variant-flt"></div></div></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">To some Amerins, the velopments might seem to fly the face of the untry’s munist history. After all, Fil Castro’s ernment terned gay people mps the 1960s and sent HIV-posive dividuals to ernment sanariums the 1980s. As one lumnist <a href=">wrote</a> of the Amerin left the San Diego Unn-Tribune, “ is remarkable that any [liberal] uld look at the Castros’ history on race and sexualy and nclu they had shared valu.”</p></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">It has been mon for U.S. mentators to e queer people to discred socialism — a kd of pkwashg reverse. But dog so flattens the historil relatnship between queer polics and munism. Centerg only the homophobic elements munism, this rhetoric ignor the tly imprsive advanc ma by some munist regim on queer rights (and papers over long histori of tolerance of LGBTQ people non-munist untri). A more reful examatn of this history shows that munism and queerns might actually belong together.</p></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Sexualy was not a preoccupatn of munism’s earlit theorists. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who penned “The Communist Manifto” 1848, had ltle to say on the topic. What they did was ntemptuo.</p></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">But other early leftists were not so dismissive. Augt Bebel, lear om 1892 to 1913 of the German Social Democratic Party, the largt socialist party Europe, was a forceful proponent of legalizg homosexualy. He even took to the floor of the German parliament 1898 to mand a repeal of the untry’s sodomy law. Siarly, after the Bolsheviks seized power Rsia, they troduced a morn penal 1922 that abolished Rsia’s sodomy law. In the 1920s, munist and socialist parti were often proponents of legalizg same-sex acts.</p></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The middle of the 20th century, however, wnsed a backlash. In the early 1930s, Joseph Stal’s regime recrimalized male homosexualy and imprisoned thoands of gay men unr the new law. Communist partisans also me to see accatns of homosexualy as a nvenient way to smear their right-wg enemi. The famo gay thor Kls Mann, an exiled opponent of Hler’s ernment, plaed 1934 that queer people were beg “the Jews of the antifascists” — the left’s favored spegoat. Gay men and lbians were not only nvenient targets, whose persecutn allowed munists to st themselv as morally superr to their fo. In transgrsg genr and sexual norms, they also f poorly wh the creasgly macho ethos wh munist parti and regim.</p></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">This reprsive tenncy endured after World War II. Rsia would not crimalize homosexualy until 1993. Other munist stat strengthened laws agast homosexualy after the war. Even more tolerant untri such as Poland also did not abi queer activism. When gay activists began to anize the 1980s munist Poland, the ernment cracked down a mass actn known as Operatn Hyacth, probably fearful of what perceived as anized ristance to the ernment.</p></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">But other munist untri, queer people ma remarkable stris. Archiv and oral histori reveal that for many gay and lbian people East Germany durg the Cold War, the munist natn was a more open and tolerant place than many Wtern stat. The obscured histori fly the face of rhetoric that suggts munism and queerns are irrencilably opposed to each other.</p></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><div id="gift-share-le" data-ttid="gift-share-le" class="PJLV PJLV-ilotWTr-css hi-for-prt"><button aria-haspopup="dialog" aria-expand="false" aria-ntrols="gift-share-drawer" role="button" tabx="0" aria-label="Share this article" id="gift-share-drawer-ntrol-le" data-ttid="gift-share-drawer-ntrol-le" class="wpds-c-PJLV wpds-c-gsmDXe wpds-c-gsmDXe-goNocI-placement-Inle foc-highlight"><div data-ttid="gift-share-terstial-trigger" class="wpds-c-kPqOkS wpds-c-kPqOkS-jtSXsT-hasSubsText-false"><span class="wpds-c-hBJqc"><span class="wpds-c-dzSncg">Share this article</span></span><span class="wpds-c-eCvK"><span class="wpds-c-enedHQ wpds-c-enedHQ-cCdK-isShown-false">Share</span><svg xmlns=" fill="currentColor" viewBox="0 0 16 16" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img" class="wpds-c-fBqPWp wpds-c-fDHGth"><path fill="currentColor" d="M8 .6v3.8h.1c-4.4 0-7.3 4.5-6.9 8.8.1.8.2 1.2.2 1.2l.2 1 .4-1.3c.8-2 2-4 6.2-3.9H8v4l7-6.9L8 .6Zm1 11.3V9.3h-.9c-3 0-4.8.5-6.2 2.9.5-3.3 2.7-6.8 6.2-6.8H9V3l4.5 4.4L9 11.9Z"></path></svg></span></div></button></div></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">In the 1950s and 1960s, for stance, East Germany pursued a markedly more tolerant policy than did Wt Germany. Its mocratic tw retaed the Nazi-era law crimalizg gay men. East Germany reverted to a far ls strgent versn, drawg on the German Communist Party’s historic support for crimalizatn.</p></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The difference was strikg; while Wt Germany <a href=" target=_blank>nvicted</a> over <a href=" target=_blank>50,000 men</a> between 1949 and 1969 of homosexualy, East Germany nvicted only a ty actn of that number. At the same time, began to liberalize s penal much earlier than Wt Germany, largely ceasg to prosecute nsensual adult homosexualy 1957. Other Soviet-bloc untri also crimalized homosexualy the postwar s: Czechoslovakia 1962, Hungary 1961 and Bulgaria 1968.</p></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">This relative tolerance allowed queer subcultur to velop East Germany, particularly s larger ci. Gay men cised for sex public baths and parks, while certa bars tacly tered to queer clientele. Hoe parti beme a staple of the queer scene those years. In her memoir, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, perhaps the most famo trans woman German history, remembered gog to lively hoe parti Berl full of queer East Germans.</p></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">In the 1970s, a group of gay men and lbians began to meet East Berl, termed to rve out a public space for themselv. Hosted by von Mahlsdorf the basement of the mm she directed, the group peppered the munist regime wh petns. They requted that lears agree to open a munitn center for gay and lbian cizens, a space where they uld meet eely, discs their sexualy and te the East German public. The group was largely unsuccsful, as the ernment remaed skeptil of the need for such public engagement.</p></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">But the 1980s, other gay and lbian activists began anizg unr the spic of the Prottant Church, the only nomally pennt anizatn the untry. In cy after cy, new groups arose — over a dozen across the ty untry (East Germany had a smaller populatn than Florida). They forced the regime to take them serly, and eventually cid that the bt way to fe the possible polil challenge that queer activism posed was to accept the groups’ mands. It did so, part, bee activists had been adamant about amg their requts terms of the needs of socialism, emphasizg that creatg greater opportuni for queer East Germans would only strengthen their mment to munism.</p></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">In short orr, the dictatorship promulgated a slew of liberal polici, om allowg queer people to serve the ary to equalizg the age of nsent to missng new books and movi about homosexualy. Burecrats and policians argued that dog so would strengthen socialist society by better tegratg queer people to and dismantlg social homophobia.</p></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">As a rult, the 1980s were a tly remarkable time for queer East Germans, what one of my terview partners lled “the most betiful gay time.” When the Berl Wall fell and Germany was rnified, many of the gay men and lbian women exprsed a sense of loss. They felt alienated by the nsumerist, Wtern gay subculture. Whereas the growg subculture the East had ma many of them feel more closely aligned wh the munal, socialist project, the Wt German subculture revolved around a highly dividualized inty and the right to exprs mercially.</p></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Other Eastern bloc untri were also fiantly queer. Hungary had long been known as a iendly place for gay and lbian people, s pal Budapt seen as Eastern Europe’s Amsterdam. Prague, too, was a sirable statn for gay vatners behd the Iron Curta. In both Hungary and Czechoslovakia, gay and lbian activists also ma efforts to anize the 1980s and nvced the rpective munist regim to make chang to social regulatns.</p></div><div class="article-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The history of queerns and munism is not simply one of reprsn. It ntas moments of both ambiguy and genue advanc — advanc that often outstripped the supposedly eer Wt. At a time when the left still bat whether inty or class is the bt basis on which to build progrs and whether socialism n be renciled wh a polics om the margs, is important to remember that socialism and queerns have and n aga walk hand--hand.</p></div><div class="wpds-c-ipATMk wpds-c-ipATMk-hCiGAB-removeMobileStyl-te"><div class="wpds-c-dhzjXW wpds-c-dhzjXW-iPJLV-css overriStyl mt-md tt"><div id="gift-share-end" data-ttid="gift-share-end" class="PJLV PJLV-idiqKOk-css hi-for-prt"><button aria-haspopup="dialog" aria-expand="false" aria-ntrols="gift-share-drawer" role="button" tabx="0" aria-label="Share this article" id="gift-share-drawer-ntrol-end" data-ttid="gift-share-drawer-ntrol-end" class="wpds-c-PJLV wpds-c-gsmDXe wpds-c-gsmDXe-iIVoLq-placement-Shortcut foc-highlight"><div class="wpds-c-UazGY" id="gift-share-shortcut" data-ttid="gift-share-shortcut"><svg xmlns=" fill="var(--wpds-lors-primary)" viewBox="0 0 16 16" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img" class="wpds-c-fVfumU "><path fill="currentColor" d="M8 .6v3.8h.1c-4.4 0-7.3 4.5-6.9 8.8.1.8.2 1.2.2 1.2l.2 1 .4-1.3c.8-2 2-4 6.2-3.9H8v4l7-6.9L8 .6Zm1 11.3V9.3h-.9c-3 0-4.8.5-6.2 2.9.5-3.3 2.7-6.8 6.2-6.8H9V3l4.5 4.4L9 11.9Z"></path></svg><div class="PJLV wpds-c-kwcHlj">Share</div></div></button></div><div class="wpds-c-hcekgi"><div class="mb-lg-mod" data-qa="ments-btn-div"><button aria-label="Scroll to the ments sectn" data-qa="ments-btn" class="wpds-c-kSOqLF wpds-c-kSOqLF-SQjOY-variant-sendary wpds-c-kSOqLF-eHdizY-nsy-flt wpds-c-kSOqLF-ejCoEP-in-left wpds-c-kSOqLF-igqYgPb-css ments hi-for-prt"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 16 16" fill="currentColor" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img" class="wpds-c-fBqPWp "><path d="M14 14V2H2v9.47h8.18L12.43 13ZM3 10.52V3h10v9.23l-2.5-1.66Z"></path></svg><span></span> Comments</button></div></div></div><div class="PJLV PJLV-iipsdti-css"><div></div></div><div class="PJLV PJLV-iipsdti-css"><div></div></div><sectn class="PJLV PJLV-iipsdti-css dn-ns hi-for-prt" data-ttid="mostRead" subscriptns-sectn="ntent"><div data-ttid="lazy-most-read-parent" class=""><div style="m-height:800px"></div></div></sectn><div class="PJLV PJLV-ickXkbz-css"><div data-qa="newsletter" class="hi-for-prt relative"><div class="dib w-100"><div><div class="flex jtify-center align self-center center transn-all duratn-400 ease--out" data-qa="sc-newsletter-signup" aria-label=""><svg aria-labelledby="react-aria-1-aria" role="img" viewBox="0 0 100 80"><tle id="react-aria-1-aria">Loadg...

fidel castro gay

A visible and empowered gay muny offers hope that other eedoms will take root.

Contents:

FIL CASTRO TAK BLAME FOR PERSECUTN OF CUBAN GAYS

Former Cuban lear Fil Castro said he acknowledg the persecutn of gays and lbians durg the Revolutn his untry, acrdg to a newspaper terview published Tuday. * fidel castro gay *

Image ptn, Mr Castro told Carmen Lira that he had not paid enough attentn to the treatment of homosexualsFil Castro has said that he is ultimately rponsible for the persecutn suffered by homosexuals Cuba after the revolutn of former print told the Mexin newspaper La Jornada that there were moments of great jtice agast the gay muny. In the 1960s and 70s, many homosexuals Cuba were fired, imprisoned or sent to "re-tn mps" Castro said homosexuals had tradnally been discrimated Cuba, jt as black people and women.

New Jersey, right across the Hudson River om the theater that ho the play, jt legalized same sex marriage and Rsian Print Vladimir Put recently warned athlet head to Sochi Febary for the Wter Olympics not to prott for gay rights.

A VIVID LOOK AT GAY LIFE CASTRO’S CUBA

Many pot to the placg of gay men labor mps and people wh HIV quarante, while others say some of Castro's polici benefed the natn. * fidel castro gay *

Strawberry and Cholate is the sometim charmg, and sometim alarmg, story of a iendship between a gay artist and a straight universy stunt Havana 1979, at the height of Fil Castro’s power.

FIL CASTRO TAK BLAME FOR 1960S GAY PERSECUTN

* fidel castro gay *

Governmental agenci ran programs agast gays for years after Castro’s takeover 1959, wh the blsgs of both the Catholic Church, very fluential Cuba, and the stnchly anti-gay Soviet Unn.

David unfortunately blurts out that Diego is gay to a pro-revolutnary police type character, Miguel, who sets a trap for Diego. The irony is that today, twenty years later, life for gays is so much better Havana and New York, where the play buted. HAVANA (Rters) - Fil Castro took the blame for a wave of homophobia lnched by his revolutnary ernment the 1960s, but said happened bee he was distracted by other problems, an terview published on Tuday a Mexin Cuban lear Fil Castro speaks at Havana's Jose Marti airport after the arrival of Cuban medil ntgent "Moto Menz" om Bolivia, Augt 17, 2010.

CUBA'S FIRST GAY HOTEL REOPENS AS HUMAN RIGHTS TERRATE

The former Cuban print told La Jornada the persecutn of gays, who were round up at the time as supposed unterrevolutnari and placed forced labor mps, was a “great jtice” that arose om the island’s history of discrimatn agast said he was not prejudiced agast gays, but “if anyone is rponsible (for the persecutn), ’s me. While guts enjoyed the five-star service by the pool or a walk along the priste sands, Cuba has not always been so welg to the gay muny.

In the early part of munist lear Fil Castro's le, homosexual men and women were sent to work mps for supposed "re-tn". Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, The hotel is part of a strategy by the thori to attract ep-pocketed gay touristsA jot venture between Muthu Hotels and Gavta, Cuba's ary-n tourism pany, the Rabow Hotel was placed on a US ernment list of sanctned enti Cuba even before was gurated 2019. Amid such harsh treatment, some Cuban gay rights' activists say the Rabow Hotel is an attempt by the state to mask s poor human rights rerd.

FIL CASTRO PUT GAY MEN LABOR CAMPS. HIS NIECE MARIELA IS LEADG CUBA’S LGBTQ REVOLUTN.

We chat ont of the Hotel Telegrafo, due to be unveiled soon as Cuba's send LGBTQ hotel as the state doubl down on s pursu of the gay tourist dollar.

Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Cuba has seen a huge drop tourism bee of the panmicIn 2015, symbolic same-sex weddgs were held at Havana's ernment-sanctned gay pri march.

CASTRO ADMS 'JTICE' FOR GAYS AND LBIANS DURG REVOLUTN

They jt hope all visors - whether gay or straight - make themselv aware of the wir human rights ntext of their trip.

” So says Luis Perez, himself gay and one of the subjects of Mariela’s March: Cuba’s LGBT Revolutn, director Jon Alpert’s new documentary, which now tak on an extra layer of timels sce premier on HBO at 9 p. The socialist who once thought of homosexualy as a creatn of the bourgeoisie experienced somethg of a late--life nversn.

FIL CASTRO ADMS PERSECUTN OF GAYS 1960S WAS 'UNJT'

For an example of both, look no further than HIV/AIDS, which Cuba appears predomantly to affect gay and bisexual men. ) In some ways, ’s still easier for a trans man to navigate the homophobia and transphobia than a more visible genr challenger, like an outré trans woman who flnts her boobs at a startled ral crowd.

FIL CASTRO TAK ‘RPONSIBILY’ FOR PERSECUTN OF CUBAN GAYS

STORY HIGHLIGHTSCuba sent openly gay men to labor mps wh no charg the '60s and '70sFil Castro acknowledg "persecutn" of gays and lbians durg the RevolutnCastro says the U. Embargo agast Cuba enuraged his untry to be creative Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- Former Cuban lear Fil Castro said he acknowledg the persecutn of gays and lbians durg the Revolutn his untry, acrdg to a newspaper terview published Tuday.

"We had so many and such terrible problems, problems of life or ath, that we didn't pay enough attentn, " Castro said of the way gays and lbians were treated.

DID FIL CASTRO TRIGGER THE US GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT?

Sign up to our Eveng Headl email for your daily gui to the latt newsSign up to our ee US Eveng Headl emailFil Castro took the blame for a wave of homophobia lnched by his revolutnary ernment the 1960s, but said happened bee he was distracted by other problems, an terview published yterday a Mexin former Cuban print told La Jornada the persecutn of gays, who were round up at the time as supposed unter-revolutnari and placed forced labour mps, was a "great jtice" that arose om the island's history of discrimatn agast said he was not prejudiced agast gays, but "if anyone is rponsible, 's me. (Photo: Dmond Boylan/AP)The moment me toward the tail end of an eveng of good food, mic and well-aged m sponsored by HBO celebratn of Jon Alpert’s documentary “Mariela Castro’s March: Cuba’s LGBT Revolutn, ” about Castro’s emergence as the most proment gay rights advote all the unexpected facts about Cuba today, perhaps none is more so than that the 53-year-old Castro dghter — straight, married, a mother of three — has bee s most vol polil advote on behalf of gay, lbian, bi and trans traveled wh Castro four tim to tell that story a 47-mute film that plet the work of the late filmmaker Sl Land, famo sce his ntroversial 1968 movie “Fil! June 2016, the film is sure to tapult Castro om a slightly ntroversial figure even Cuba — where she is director of the Cuban Natnal Center for Sex Edutn, or CENESEX, and a member of parliament — to one of the island natn’s most ternatnally visible polil is surprisg to fd the dghter of a stg print leadg the fight for gay, lbian, bi and trans rights a natn still stgglg wh a macho, often homophobic culture and where, unr the learship of her uncle, gay men were once sequtered ary mps — well, wele to Cuba.

In the Uned Stat, the gay rights movement was one of the new social movements of the 20th century, a grassroots civil rights fight agast the ernment and social nventns that only began to draw the support of powerful policians after s of anizg work. (Photo: Garance Franke-Ruta/Yahoo News)In fact, far om beg a break wh Cuba’s revolutnary legacy, Mariela Castro suat her gay rights advocy work wh Cuba’s history of left-wg polil transformatn even as she is seekg to ph forward social and polil chang that would have been nceivable at the revolutn’s lnch.

And maybe to make a revolutn n be a utopian project, but to make perfect is impossible, ” she said remarks before the Havana screeng of the HBO film, which was attend by senr cultural figur the ernment as well as by the trans and gay men and women featured .

CUBA’S GAY RIGHTS EVOLUTN

“Though we were fightg and tryg to make important chang for social jtice, the issu of homophobia and transphobia were not clear, and they had to be put on the agenda. ”*****I sat down wh Castro at CENESEX, loted a lovgly rtored buildg pated shas of yellow amid the shabby gentily of Havana’s Vedado neighborhood two days after the movie screeng for an exclive nversatn about how she me to be the leadg gay rights advote Cuba, about social change her homeland and about her famo Castro name. Her father “has told me he supports me, that he supports the personal rights of homosexuals, ” she told the New York Tim.

(Photo: Alejandro Ernto/EPA)Interviews wh gay and trans people Havana reveal a picture of daily life that has improved markedly for sexual and genr mori the 21st century, and pecially the last five years.

Where gay bars and clubs were once illegal, they are now permted, and some — like most rtrants and other bs Cuba — are even n by the ernment.

MARIELA CASTRO WS GAY-RIGHTS ADVOCY AWARD

Laws that crimalized gay people and ma same-sex displays of affectn an object for police attentn have been repealed.

Mar Martez Moral, 23, a part of the youth group Red Joven por los Salud y los Derechos Sexual, n name six different bars where he n go out as a gay man but says he wouldn’t feel fortable walkg hand hand wh his boyiend on the street, even Havana.

Outsi the Las Vegas nightclub up the street om the rner of 23rd and Malecón, a hangout for gay men and trans women Havana — a sort of Christopher Street piers area — two young men scribed their difficulti jt survivg. *****In the HBO film, Castro tak an opportuny to apologize directly to Luis Perez, who had been one of the ary’s UMAP mps, where dissints, relig mori and homosexuals were sent to work the fields. Many people wh wealth said they were gay to avoid servg, but sce homophobia was very strong at the time wh the army and the ernment, was cid to put the gay people to separate army uns, fact all targets of prejudice went to the uns.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* FIDEL CASTRO GAY

bars</tle><g id="el_oZ84Hna1GC_65hRV2Qwn" class="css-1fxvzwo" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_oZ84Hna1GC_ILVvi2tqx" class="css-1wnday1" ata-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_oZ84Hna1GC"><rect x="34" width="6" height="36" id="el_qw_T_tngXw"></rect></g></g></g><g id="el_mYVjkduhMU_p_9Pm85Ac" class="css-fwki7z" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_mYVjkduhMU_WxG3R40yd" class="css-t3i5e6" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_mYVjkduhMU"><rect x="22.67" width="6" height="36" id="el_lf9GrROk6j"></rect></g></g></g><g id="el_o-EuxhgoAw_kYNRGDfcw" class="css-t9te0w" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_o-EuxhgoAw_3c3bzSjOJ" class="css-1r5375t" ata-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_o-EuxhgoAw"><rect x="11.33" width="6" height="36" id="el_-iueO8klO0"></rect></g></g></g><g id="el_F7mSMPhqpC_y_fKcpSxn" class="css-qknaag" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_F7mSMPhqpC_R6bNB6_Ys" class="css-1vd04" ata-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_F7mSMPhqpC"><rect width="6" height="36" id="el_dS5TKNZZ5w"></rect></g></g></g></svg></div><div><div class="css-1t7yl1y">0:00<!-- -->/<!-- -->3:59</div><div class="css-og85jy">-<!-- -->0:00</div></div></div></div></hear><div class="css-uzyn7p"><div class="css-1vxyw"><p class="css-1nng8z9">transcript</p><h2 class="css-9wqu2x">Ana’s Story: Transgenr Cuba</h2><h4 class="css-qsd3hm">The Cuban ernment paid for Ana Rafaela Diaz Gomez’s sex change, yet challeng still rema for same-sex upl on the island.</h4></div><dl class="css-p98d0w"><dt class="css-xx7kwh"></dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l"><p class="css-8hvvyd">Ana Rafaela Diaz Gomez builds a new life after her genr reassignment surgery and hormone replacement therapy two years ago.</p></dd></dl></div></div></div></div><script type="applitn/ld+json">{"@ntext":","@type":"VioObject","@id":","scriptn":"The Cuban ernment paid for Ana Rafaela Diaz Gomez’s sex change, yet challeng still rema for same-sex upl on the island.","url":","name":"Ana’s Story: Transgenr Cuba","thumbnailUrl":[",","],"embedUrl":","ntentUrl":","uploadDate":"2014-12-19T23:29:09.000Z","transcript":"Ana Rafaela Diaz Gomez builds a new life after her genr reassignment surgery and hormone replacement therapy two years ago.","duratn":"PT3M59S"}</script></div><div class="css-1cueeje" style="paddg-bottom:56.25%;transn:opacy 300ms ease--out"><div class="css-1ihorw"><img src=" alt="Vio player loadg"/></div><div class="css-ew1078"><div class="css-ptry2i"><div></div><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><figptn class="css-1ifea e1maroi60"><span class="css-jevhma e13ogyst0">The Cuban ernment paid for Ana Rafaela Diaz Gomez’s sex change, yet challeng still rema for same-sex upl on the island.</span></figptn></figure><div class="css-1guqxks"><a class="css-1vknhtq" href=">See how this article appeared when was origally published on </a></div></hear><sectn name="articleBody" class="meteredContent css-1r7ky0e"><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompannColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">In Cuba, street march have historilly been ernment-orchtrated events or dissint protts that are swiftly cshed by the thori. So was downright startlg when, May 2007, Fil Castro’s niece sntered down the street wh a small army of drag queens wavg gay pri flags.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Long before the Obama admistratn announced a dramatic shift Cuba policy on Wednday, assertg that isolatg the island had failed, a uple of Wtern ernments wh close ti to the Uned Stat saw the potential to help gay Cubans, even though meant workg wh a proment member of the Castro fay. Havana’s first observance of the <a class="css-yywogo" href=" tle="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia and Transphobia</a> marked the begng of a remarkable evolutn of gay rights the most populo untry the Caribbean, a regn where hostile attus toward sexual mori rema the norm.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Mariela Castro, the dghter of the current print, Raúl Castro, has led the charge on legislative and societal chang that have given rise to an creasgly visible and empowered muny. In the procs, she has rved out a rare space for civil society an thorarian untry where grass-roots movements rarely succeed. Some Wtern diplomats Havana have seen the progrs on gay rights as a potential blueprt for expansn of other personal eedoms one of the most opprsed societi on earth.</p></div><asi class="css-ew4tgv" aria-label="pann lumn"></asi></div><div></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompannColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Norway and Belgium have fancially supported Ms. Castro’s anizatn, the Natnal Center for Sexual Edutn, offerg a tt of the mers of supportg certa polici of a ernment that the Uned Stat and European pals have largely shunned bee of s bleak human rights rerd. As the Obama admistratn begs rryg out s new Cuba policy, should draw lsons om the impact others have had by engagg.</p></div><asi class="css-ew4tgv" aria-label="pann lumn"></asi></div><div><div style="max-width:100%;marg:0 to" class=""><div data-id="100000003363731" data-slug="cuba-transgenr-spanish-button" class="css-1ax702a" style="max-width:300px"><iame src=" class="css-sqdgy8" ameBorr="0" scrollg="no" width="100%"></iame></div></div></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompannColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“It’s fe to cricize, but you also have to acknowledge that they’ve done good,” said John Petter Opdahl, Norway’s ambassador to Cuba, a recent terview. Mr. Opdahl, who is gay, said his ernment gave Ms. Castro’s anizatn $230,000 over the last two years. “She has taken off a lot of the stigma for most people the untry, and she has ma life so much better for so many gay people, not only Havana but the provc.”</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Fil Castro’s ernment ostracized sexual mori durg the 1960s and 1970s, sendg some people to labor mps. The btal treatment of gay men was poignantly chronicled by the Cuban wrer Realdo Arenas, who was jailed 1974 for lerary works the thori emed an “iologil viatn.” His tobgraphy, “Before Night Falls,” a crilly acclaimed book that was ma to a movie, is perhaps the most thorative ttimony of a particularly dark chapter of Cuban history.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Ms. Castro said she and her mother, Vilma Espín, for years quietly prsed the Castro brothers to soften their attu toward sexual mori. A ago, Cuba’s gay muny was no longer as persecuted, but nohels operated the shadows. Ms. Castro, a member of Cuba’s Natnal Assembly, opted to take on the issue.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">After the 2007 march, Ms. Castro, who is straight, began a public mpaign to promote tolerance. She persuad the ernment recent years to offer state-paid genr reassignment surgery and hormone treatment for transgenr people. Last year, when the Assembly passed a labor that protected gays and lbians — but not transgenr people — om discrimatn the workplace, Ms. Castro beme the first lawmaker Cuban history<a class="css-yywogo" href=" tle="AP story" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> to st a dissentg vote prott.</a> Her ultimate goal, she said, was difyg full equaly unr the law.</p></div><asi class="css-ew4tgv" aria-label="pann lumn"></asi></div><div></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompannColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Gay Cubans say that discrimatn remas a problem, particularly outsi big ci. Still, last year, a woman Caribién, a municipaly east of Havana, beme the untry’s first transgenr elected official. At the urgg of Ms. Castro and gay bloggers, 2010 Cuba began votg favor of rolutns supportg gay rights at the Uned Natns, breakg ranks wh alli Ai and the Caribbean.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">While wily admired, Ms. Castro and her state-n anizatn are not whout crics Cuba’s gay muny. In 2011, Yasmín Portal Machado, a gay rights activist, cid to <a class="css-yywogo" href=" tle="Proyecto Ar Iris web se" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">start a new group</a> lled Proyecto Ar Iris, or Rabow, feelg was necsary to have a platform for other voic and ias.</p></div><asi class="css-ew4tgv" aria-label="pann lumn"></asi></div><div><figure class="sizeMedium css-sx232s" aria-label="media" role="group" data-ttid="VioBlock"><div class="css-1xb94ky"><span class="css-1dv1kvn">Vio</span><div><div class="css-n27z15" style="paddg-bottom:56.25%"><div class="css-mm3pwi"><div class="css-1g7y0i5 e1drnplw0"><button tabx="100" class="css-1rtlxy" type="button" aria-label="close"><svg width="60" height="60" viewBox="0 0 60 60" fill="none"><circle cx="30" cy="30" r="30" fill="whe" fill-opacy="0.9"></circle><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M38.4844 20.1006L39.8986 21.5148L21.5138 39.8996L20.0996 38.4854L38.4844 20.1006Z" fill="black"></path><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M21.5156 20.1006L20.1014 21.5148L38.4862 39.8996L39.9004 38.4854L21.5156 20.1006Z" fill="black"></path></svg></button><div class="css-rdbib0 e1drnplw1"></div><div class="css-18ow4sz e1drnplw2"><div aria-labelledby="modal-tle" role="regn"><hear class="css-1bzlfz"><div class="css-mln36k" id="modal-tle">transcript</div><button type="button" class="css-1igvuto"><div class="css-f40pzg"></div><span>Back</span></button><div class="css-f6lhej" data-ttid="transcript-playback-ntrols"><div class="css-1ialerq"><button tabx="99" type="button" class="css-1t9gw" aria-label="play"><svg xmlns=" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M8 13.7683V6L14.5 9.88415L8 13.7683Z" fill="var(--lor-ntent-sendary,#363636)"></path><circle cx="10" cy="10" r="9.25" stroke="var(--lor-stroke-primary,#121212)" stroke-width="1.5"></circle></svg></button><div class="css-1701swk"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 40 36" id="el_0kpS9qL_S"><tle>bars .

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