HAVANA, CUBA -- Cuba is holding its 8th Sessions Against Homophobia from Tuesday, May 5th to May 16th, promoted by the Cuban National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX in Spanish), led by Mariela Castro, daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro.
The main event will be a "Conga Cubana vs. Homophobia and Transphobia" taking place next Saturday. This year a novel touch will be a "love celebration,” something like a “symbolic wedding, said Castro in a press conference.
Castro said in a press conference that this will be something humble, modest, not like the big wedding she saw in Toronto, Canada, in order to wait and see in the future what Cuba will do about the issue of gay rights.
The sessions will include American guests like singer and actress Thelma Houston, the rock band Quetzal and the Reverend Troy Perry, Pastor Hector Gutierrez and the Reverend Mona West, among others.
Castro said this year the 8th Session is dedicated to the labor rights of LGBTQ community, because that is an area where there exists higher vulnerability in the island. She also said the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and US will be beneficial for both people. She added that when LGBT rights are recognized in the island, it will generate enrichment and advancement in Cuban society.
--Orlando Matos