Seattle Gay News
Issue 25, Volume 45, June 23, 2017
Photo courtesy of Cuba Travel Network
10th Annual March Against Homophobia and Transphobia with Mariela Castro
A visit with MCC’s Rev. Troy Perry, meeting an OUT Lesbian minister and a Gay labor camp survivor by Mark Segal Philadelphia Gay News As I was standing in Revolution Square in Havana, Cuba, May 11, looking at the giant silhouette of Che Guevara, I smiled, recalling the Che Guevara Café I once visited in Beirut where I watched a male belly dancer as I was reporting on Lebanon’s first LGBT organization. It occurred to me that the relationship between the United States and the Middle East is easy to explain compared to the relationship our country has with Cuba, as well as Cuba’s position on LGBT issues. It was 20 years ago when I reported on the state of LGBT life in Havana. The difference could not be more apparent than it
was in the procedure to arrange my travel to Cuba. In 1997, as an out LGBT journalist – and refusing to be anything but out – I received no assistance from the U.S. government, except the warning that I could have trouble re-entering the United States, since the U.S. government might not recognize LGBT reporters as legitimate journalists. As for Cuba, its embassy refused to return calls. It was almost a clandestine trip. I had to travel via Mexico and arrange hotel and other necessities through third- and fourthparty connections. At times, it was cloak and dagger. And there was reason for Cuban hesitance in having an LGBT journalist in the country: Life for LGBT people at that time was like 1950s America, or worse.
Pride Flag in Havana – Photo courtesy of Mark Segal
(Read more about that trip at http://bit. ly/2q46XUQ.) Twenty years would bring some surprises and a brush with the past, both in the United States and Cuba. Modern U.S. travel protocol made the arrangements slightly easier than 20 years ago. The Cuban Embassy not only sped up my visa, they arranged for me to have official Cuban press credentials, which they also did for other U.S. LGBT media on the same trip. This is an amazing fact that should not be overlooked, as it makes the point clear that Cuba is attempting – with baby steps – to open its society and go after the lucrative worldwide LGBT tourism market. The timing could not have been better, since Cuba was about to commemorate the
Mariela Castro – Photo courtesy of alchetron.com
10th Annual International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia on May 13, spearheaded in the country by the Cuban National Center for Sex Education. CENESEX is headed by Mariela Castro, the daughter of the current president of Cuba and niece to its former president, Fidel Castro. My first evening’s dinner on May 10 proved that Cuba had changed – but at the same time is even more complex. That dinner was spent with old friend and U.S. LGBT pioneer the Rev. Troy Perry of Metropolitan Community Church, who was scheduled to receive an award from CENESEX. We dined with members of his Cuban church, headed by Elaine Saralegui, an out lesbian from Matanzas, Cuba. Their work begins to explain the story of the culture of the Cuban people and how change occurs. It’s an eye-opener for many in our country since when we speak of socialist/communist Cuba, many often think of a godless society, but indeed the last three popes have made it a point to visit Cuba. Now, about 40 percent of Cubans identify as Catholic while others follow the African Caribbean Santería faith. In order to understand Cuba and Cubans, you must know that religion is a large part of their culture, and religious views on the LGBT community are intertwined with the country’s politics. Example: As the see CUBA page 8