(11 May 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana – 10 May 2025
1. Participants holding a large rainbow flag at the Cuba Gay Pride Parade in Havana
2. Various of people dancing
3. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Yoilán Balón, transgender marcher:
++PARTLY OVER SHOT 2++
“There should be more unity and inclusion, I think. We are moving forward regarding the law, which is the most important thing, and I hope we continue to move forward.”
4. Rainbow flag being waved
5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Mariela Castro, director of the Cuban Center for Sexual Education and member of the Cuban parliament:
++PARTLY OVER SHOTS 6 AND 7++
"When we compare the 1975 Family Code and the 1976 Constitution with the current ones, we can say that the revolution has brought about a profound cultural transformation in our people. We still need to keep going because the harder we work and continue with the work of education and communication in a consistent way, our people will be transformed and will understand that all people deserve rights."
6. Castro marching at the head of the pride parade
7. Various of the parade
8. People dancing
STORYLINE:
Rainbow flags were waved through Havana on Saturday as hundreds of people participated in the Gay Pride parade.
Brandishing banners saying "Socialism yes, homophobia no” and “Cuba is love," members of the LGBTQ+ community marched along the streets of Vedado.
The parade has been held annually in the capital since 2008 and was interrupted only twice during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cuba has made significant progress since the era of Fidel Castro’s leadership, when homosexuals faced persecution and were sent to labor camps.
In recent years, the communist-run island has barred anti-gay discrimination, and a 2022 government-backed family law was approved by a popular vote that granted ample rights to the community, including same-sex marriages and the right to adopt.
Gender reassignment surgery was legalized in Cuba in 2008, making it the first Latin American country to fully cover such procedures and hormone therapy within its national healthcare system.
The achievements of the last decades are in no small part attributed to the work of another Castro.
Mariela Castro, the daughter of former president Raul Castro, heads Cuba’s National Center for Sex Education and is a member of the National Assembly.
For years, she has been the foremost voice for gay rights on the island.
“When we compare the 1975 Family Code and the 1976 Constitution with the current ones, we can say that the revolution has brought about a profound cultural transformation in our people,” said Castro as she prepared to lead the parade.
While perhaps not as large as parades in other parts of the world, the Cuban Gay Pride event carries significant meaning for the community due to its history of activism and the fight for acceptance under a communist state and in a predominantly conservative society where changes occur slowly.
AP video shot by Ariel Fernández and Milexsy Durán
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