Cuba is changing. But to understand the many crosscurrents, one need only observe gay life in this island capital. To understand the Cuban people, you first need to understand the Cuban Revolution; not just the one still roiling a nation under the dictats of a deceased Fidel Castro, but the ongoing revolution on the Cuban…
Is there ever really a good time to travel? It seems even with all the planning possible we just can’t anticipate what the future may bring while we are away. This was certainly the case with my recent trip to Cuba. Last month, I was a member of the UNESCO World Heritage Reconciliation tour organized…
LOS ANGELES – A delegation consisting of 13 members from the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles (GMCLA), including its CEO Chris Verdugo, Artistic Director Joe Nadeau, and West Hollywood Council Member and Board President John Duran, returned this week from an unprecedented and historic visit to an island nation that is just beginning to…
In addition to other forms of discrimination, lesbian and bisexual women in Cuba face unequal treatment from public health services. Their specific sexual and reproductive health needs are ignored, and they are invisible in prevention and treatment campaigns for women. Many lesbian and bisexual women are afraid of gynecological instruments and procedures which they experience…
The San Diego Museum of Art had a Cuban themed night for their Culture & Cocktails series. The inspiration came from a recent trip to Cuba by the Board of Trustees in which they acquired four works from a local contemporary artist. The work is currently on display at the museum’s Welcome Gallery until March…
PHILADELPHIA — The U.S. State Department lifted its travel ban on Mariela Castro and has authorized Ms. Castro to visit Philadelphia to participate in Equality Forum 2013, a national and international LGBT civil rights summit with Cuba as the featured nation. Mariela Castro, daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro, accepted being a panelist on the…
PHILADELPHIA,– Equality Forum, a national and international LGBT civil rights organization, calls on the U.S. State Department to allow Mariela Castro, a Cuban LGBT civil rights activist, to visit Philadelphia for Equality Forum 2013. The State Department issued a visa to Ms. Castro to visit New York for U.N. meetings, but did not authorize Ms. Castro to travel to Philadelphia to…
WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Barack Obama has picked a neighbor to deliver the closing prayer at the inauguration. The Rev. Luis León told CNN on Tuesday the White House and the Presidential Inaugural Committee invited him last week to deliver the closing prayer at the 57th presidential inauguration. León pastors Saint John’s Church, an Episcopal…
(CNN) — Richard Blanco, the poet who likes to describe himself as being made in Cuba, assembled in Spain and imported to the United States, will serve as the inaugural poet when President Barack Obama takes the oath of office for a second term this month. Blanco will be the first Latino, the first openly…
(CNN) – The daughter of Cuba’s president supports the re-election bid of President Barack Obama, but believes he could do more were it not for the pressures he is facing, she said in an interview broadcast recently on CNNi’s Amanpour. “As a citizen of the world, I would like him to win,” said Mariela Castro…
