(12 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 11 May 2024
1. Mariela Castro, daughter of former Cuban president Raúl Castro, marching and chanting (Spanish) “Free Palestine from the river to the sea” during the LGBTQ+ pride
2. Various of drums and rainbow-colored flags during the march
3. Rafael Acosta member of the community, dancing
4. Various of community marching, posters, Cuban and Palestinian flags
5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Mariela Castro, daughter of former president Raul Castro, LGBTQ+ rights advocate:
“The revolutionary Cuban LGBTQ movement joins the international movement against genocide in Palestine. Enough of genocide.”
6. Various of community parading
7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Rafael Acosta, member of the LGBTQ+ community:
“I come because I believe this is another year of struggle. To show society that we are part of this country and this world, that we are human beings above all.”
8. Alex Michael and his friends marching
9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Alex Michael, member of the LGBTQ+ community LGBTQ+:
“We are present, we do not have to hide. We are not less than any heterosexual, we are all equal.”
10. Various of drums, community on parade
STORYLINE:
Hundreds of sexual diversity activists in Cuba held a demonstration in the streets of the capital on Saturday, both to celebrate laws that incorporated more rights for the gay community and in solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
The activists gathered with drums, trumpets, and rainbow-colored flags representing the LGBTQ+ community and, above all, holding banners and posters in solidarity with the Palestinians.
At the front was Mariela Castro, the director of the Center for Sex Education, daughter of former President Raul Castro, and an advocate for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community in the Caribbean island.
Castro told the AP that this year’s march was celebrating love was now law in Cuba.
Cuba put into effect at the end of 2022 -and after a referendum- a new Code of Families that, among other novelties, allows same-sex weddings, surrogate wombs, and adoption by gay couples.
From September 2022 to December 2023, 1333 marriages were performed on the island, with 806 for men and 527 for women.
But Castro said that this year, in addition, the march was dedicated to the struggle of the Palestinian people and the end of the war in those territories.
"The revolutionary Cuban LGBTQ movement joins the international movement against genocide in Palestine. Enough of genocide," she said.
AP Video shot by Milexsy Durán and Ariel Fernández
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