In just a few short months, there has been a sea change 90 miles off the coast of Florida’s Key West.
Cuba is red hot.
The communist island-nation is engaging the world community on a new level thanks to U.S. President Barack Obama, who decided that his administration would begin normalizing relations with the Castro government despite some heavy opposition from Republicans and their anti-communist supporters in South Florida and elsewhere.
It hasn’t taken long for the floodgates to open. Cuba is hardly communist any longer. The regime has been passing reforms for years now. The island is now housing rental service Airbnb’s fastest growing market. The president of France has called for an end to the U.S. embargo after paying a historic visit to Havana on May 10. The first ferry service in decades between the U.S. and Cuba will likely start operations soon as the country drops off the official U.S. list of terrorist countries. All things Cuban, from athletes and entertainers to vaccines and cuisine, are becoming more visible across America’s cultural landscape.
Now comes word from Cuba that President Raul Castro’s daughter, Mariela, helped organize a mass ceremony of religious-style blessings on May 9 for dozens, maybe hundreds, of same-sex couples, despite gay marriage being officially banned.
The event came a day before Raul Castro’s visit with Pope Francis at the Vatican. The church and the Cuban government were in a state of open hostility in the years after the 1959 revolution that put Fidel Castro in power. But a thaw began in the 1990s. Cuba removed a constitutional clause declaring the country an atheist state, Pope John Paul II paid a momentous visit in 1998, Pope Benedict XVI visited in 2012, and Cuba made Good Friday an official holiday. Raul Castro was expected to discuss the pope’s planned visit to Cuba in September.
Mariela Castro did not attend the blessing ceremony but headed a colorful march by more than 1,000 people along one of Havana’s main streets.
Luis Enrique Mederos and his partner for 14 years, Alain Morales, approached Troy Perry, founder of Los Angeles’ gay-friendly Metropolitan Community Church, and held hands beneath a canopy while the pastor blessed their relationship, according to the Associated Press.
“Luis, I give you my life,” said 38-year-old Morales, as a crowd 300 well-wishers roared and cheered.
Mederos, a 47-year-old graphic designer, said “it’s a dream for the Cuban gay and transgender community that one day it won’t be just symbolic… because we’re also part of this changing world,” he said, embracing Morales.
The ceremonies, led by Protestant clergymen from the U.S. and Canada, are part of a run-up to what’s being reported as a Global Day against Homophobia on May 17. To her credit, Mariela Castro has been pushing for LGBT rights in a country with a sad legacy of persecuting homosexuals.
In fact, LGBT people were treated poorly during much of the presidency of Fidel Castro. After handing power to his brother Raul, the elder Castro said he regretted his treatment of gay and lesbian Cubans, while the government has slowly been granting more and more rights to the LGBT population recently.
Mariela Castro is the most visible gay rights advocate on the island. She’s been using her position as a member of the Cuban elite to push reforms. Last year, as a member of parliament, she voted against a workers’ rights bill that she felt failed to prevent discrimination against people with HIV or those expressing different gender identities.
Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Brazil and states in the U.S. and Mexico have legalized same-sex marriage or civil unions.
What this all means is that Cuba is likely to become the next mecca for LGBT travelers, and with that, possibly a dam burst of ex-pat retirees like the ones you find in Oaxaca, Mexico.
The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C. has already announced that it has partnered with Youth For Understanding USA to conduct the first-ever visit and concert tour by a gay chorus to Cuba from July 10-18.
“We have an incredible opportunity,” said Chase Maggiano, executive director of the chorus.” As we know from our long history of concerts worldwide, person to person interaction can be a key driver of social change.”
The tour will include five performances in and around Havana at notable venues such as the basilica and monastery of San Francisco de Asis. The group will likely get a chance to meet representatives from the Cuban National Center for Sex Education, a government-funded entity spearheaded by Mariela Castro.
Boy this woman gets around. With such statesmanship in short supply stateside, Obama… Mariela… bravo.
