Cubans approve gay marriage by large marg referendum | Rters

Contents:

• THERE’S A GAY BEACH HAVANA! DISVERG LGBT LIFE CUBA
• CUBANS APPROVE GAY MARRIAGE BY LARGE MARG REFERENDUM
• WHERE CUBA’S GAYS MEET UP
• CUBA WANTS YOU TO THK IT’S A GAY PARADISE. IT’S NOT.
• CUBA'S FIRST GAY HOTEL REOPENS AS HUMAN RIGHTS TERRATE
• GAY AND PROUR CUBA
• GAY CUBA

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

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".

CUBANS APPROVE GAY MARRIAGE BY LARGE MARG REFERENDUM

The openly gay wrer fought tirelsly agast the homophobia that had effect bee stutnalized Cuba the two s followg the 1959 revolutn.

WHERE CUBA’S GAYS MEET UP

Now, as the ernment tak gradual steps to advote for LGBT Cubans, some gay activists on the island are g Arenas’ memory to move their e forward. “Arenas’ legacy is a paful one for the gay muny Cuba, ” said Maykel González Vivero, an pennt journalist and gay activist the cy of Sagua la Gran. As a wrer, both his surrealist lerary style and the strong them of homosexualy his work bucked accepted norms, and his work was banned startg wh his send novel.

CUBA WANTS YOU TO THK IT’S A GAY PARADISE. IT’S NOT.

“Arenas is, many ways, a mentor for a morn generatn of gay wrers, ” said Rafael Os, a profsor at Agn Stt College who has wrten two books and numero articl on Arenas’ life.

CUBA'S FIRST GAY HOTEL REOPENS AS HUMAN RIGHTS TERRATE

It’s not hard to see why Arenas’ legacy of rebelln and stggle uld strike a particular nerve for gay Cubans livg a plited – and changg – untry. One activist, Francis Rodríguez Cz, hasn’t let the past experienc of gay men like Arenas terme his stance toward the late lear’s revolutnary ials.

Cz pots to the work of Mariela Castro, Fil Castro’s niece and dghter of current Print Raúl Castro, who has actively fought for an end to homophobia as director of Cuba’s Natnal Center for Sexual Edutn. She often leads march agast homophobia and has advoted for allowg transgenr people to have genr nfirmatn surgery, which is now vered by the state.

Before this, there was a long perd of tolerance; after the 1959 revolutn gay people were imprisoned “rehabilatn” mps and discrimatn was rife.

GAY AND PROUR CUBA

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.

GAY CUBA

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. 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).