Unverg Gay Havana, Cuba -- PASSPORT Magaze

Contents:

• THERE’S A GAY BEACH HAVANA! DISVERG LGBT LIFE CUBA
• UNVERG GAY HAVANA, CUBA
• HAVANA GAY BARS
• CUBA WANTS YOU TO THK IT’S A GAY PARADISE. IT’S NOT.

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

In the early 1960’s, after Fil Castro took power, many gay people were sent to ernment work mps alongsi polil dissints. Though homosexualy was legalized Cuba 1979, many gay men and women said they still faced open discrimatn.

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. My iend and I had arrived at Mi Cayo beach Cuba, a stretch of shorele 15 east of Havana, search of gay Cuba travel experienc.

It looked as though the beach extend que a distance both directns, so we were unsure where to fd the gay sectn of beach that supposedly existed. Our hope that the du would lead to the gay beach were realized when, after five mut of walkg wt, we spotted the rabow flag. On this weekday afternoon, the gay beach had maybe 100 people at most, but was still awome to see signs of gay life Cuba, where acceptance of gays is growg but still not nearly at the same level as most wtern natns.

UNVERG GAY HAVANA, CUBA

There ed to be a Cuban gay bar lled Humboldt 52, but that place appears to have been closed for many years now. Asi om Cabaret Las Vegas, if you’re lookg for the LGBT+ populatn Cuba, you’ll mostly have to e mon sense and gaydar.

The are stereotyp, of urse, but they did hold te for many young Cuban gays, who were clearly open and weren’t tryg to hi their orientatns om anybody. If you vis more upsle and seclud statns Cuba such as Vararo, which is known for s all-clive rorts, you may likely enunter other gay travelers and tourists, moro than lols.

This did not seem to be jt a ‘gay men’ thg – lots of dus holdg their girliends’ hands were rockg lf stubble.

HAVANA GAY BARS

Obvly, gay marriage is not legal Cuba, though Rters reported that the untry’s recent draft nstutn uld open the door for eventual same-sex matrimony.

In the past few years, a number of onle articl seemed to give the imprsn that Cuba is some sort of utopia for gay men, but most of the were exaggerated.

Y, Cuba is gay iendly to a greater gree than many of s Caribbean neighbors, but a lot of those untri (Jamai, Tridad) have notorly homophobic cultur, so beg more progrsive than them isn’t necsarily a huge statement. So is entirely possible to meet and hang out wh gay folks on the island if that’s somethg you are terted .

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

As more lol policians warm to gay rights, tour pani expand their gay-themed tours Havana, and more Amerin gay tourists e to vis, I would expect LGBT life Cuba to grow and bee more public the g years. Still, the new LGBT protectns are great for lols and for gay tourists who want to spend their money plac that are iendly and receptive. So this gui hop to offer some sight to LGBT rights Cuba to help gay travellers who are thkg of gog there.

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.