News
Cuban lawmakers ban anti-gay employment discrimination
Mariela Castro sought to amend country’s employment law
Mariela Castro spoke during a press conference in Philadelphia on May 4. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
“Experienced a countless number of emotions today in Parliament,” said Cuban blogger Francisco Rodríguez who blogs under the pen name Paquito El De Cuba on his Twitter page as Andrés Duque of Blabbeando reported. “We now have the first law that protects gays, in this case in employment.”
Rodríguez tweeted there was also what he described as an “intense debate” about amending the island’s labor law to also ban discrimination based on gender identity and expression.
He said Mariela Castro, daughter of Cuban President Raúl Castro and executive director of the country’s National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX), proposed the trans-specific amendment. Rodríguez said she also obtained support for it from Christian and intellectual leaders in Parliament.
The Cuban newspaper Granma on Saturday reported Mariela Castro, who is the niece of former Cuban President Fidel Castro, sought to amend the employment law that broadly referenced “the equality of the worker,” but did not specifically ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and other factors in the workplace. The publication further noted Mariela Castro also sought to ban employment discrimination based on gender identity, disability and HIV status.
Ignacio Estrada Cepero, founder of the Cuban League Against AIDS, told the Blade on Saturday from Miami that he had previously predicted the Cuban Parliament would have approved something along the lines of banning anti-gay discrimination in the workplace during their most recent meeting.
Estrada and his transgender wife, former CENESEX employee Wendy Iriepa Díaz, remain critical of Mariela Castro and her father’s government. The two met with Cuban-born U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) in July on Capitol Hill while they were in the U.S. on a three month trip.
“You would have to ask if any of us taking a seat inside the Cuban Parliament would have been able to achieve this” Estrada told the Blade. “It surely would have been impossible to achieve it.”
Estrada added Cuban parliamentarians only approved the proposal to ban anti-gay discrimination in the workplace because Mariela Castro introduced it and she is the Cuban president’s daughter.
Equality Forum in May honored Mariela Castro for her efforts on behalf of LGBT Cubans. The executive director of the Philadelphia-based gay advocacy group refused to allow this reporter to ask the Cuban president’s daughter about her country’s human rights record during a press conference before she accepted an award from the organization.
Ros-Lehtinen is among those who blasted Equality Forum for honoring Mariela Castro. The U.S. government also faced criticism for granting her a visa that allowed her to travel to Philadelphia to accept the award.
“The tyrannical regime in Cuba likes to fool those who are easily fooled but, unless there are human rights for all, there can be no true rights just for gays,” Ros-Lehtinen told the Blade in a statement on Saturday. “One would have to be quite gullible to give any credence to reports that the non-freely elected sham of a parliament has passed a non-discrimination law regarding individuals who are LGBT. The Castro regime allows no freedom but it knows how to sugar coat its horrid human rights record by promoting a law that will never mean a thing. The Cuban people deserve freedom, whether they are gay or straight. Liberty knows no gender identity.”
CENESEX and the Cuban government did not return the Blade’s request for comment.
District of Columbia
Brian Footer suspends campaign for Ward 1 D.C. Council seat
Race’s third LGBTQ candidate cites family reasons for ‘stepping back’
Gay Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Brian Footer, who was one of three out LGBTQ candidates running for the open Ward 1 D.C. Council seat in the city’s June 16, 2026, Democratic primary, announced on Dec. 17 he has decided to “suspend” his campaign to focus on his family.
“After deep reflection and honest conversations with my family, I have decided to suspend my campaign for the D.C. Council,” he said in a statement. “This moment in my life requires me to be present with the people I love most and honor the responsibilities I carry both at home and in the community,” he states. “This was not an easy decision, but it is the right one for me and my family at this time.”
Footer, a longtime Ward 1 community activist and LGBTQ rights advocate, announced his candidacy for the Ward 1 Council seat in July, one month before bisexual Ward 1 community activist Aparna Raj announced her candidacy for the Council seat on Aug. 12.
Gay Ward 1 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Miguel Trindade Deramo announced his candidacy for the Ward 1 Council seat on Nov. 18, becoming the third out LGBTQ candidate in what appeared to be an unprecedented development for a race for a single D.C. Council seat.
At least three other candidates who are not LGBTQ are running for the Ward 1 Council seat. They include Ward 1 ANC member Rashida Brown, longtime Ward 1 community activist Terry Lynch, and Jackie Reyes-Yanes, the former director of the Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs.
In his statement announcing the suspension of his candidacy, Footer said he would continue to be involved in community affairs and advocate for the issues he discussed during his campaign.
“I want to be clear: I am stepping back from the race, not the work,” he says in his statement. “Public service has always been my calling. I will continue advocating for affordability, for safer streets, for stability for small businesses, and for a government that responds to people with urgency and respect,” he wrote. “And I will continue showing up as a partner in the work of building a stronger Ward 1.”
Footer concluded by thanking and praising his campaign supporters and calling his campaign suspension a “transition,” suggesting he is not likely to resume his candidacy.
His campaign press spokesperson did not immediately respond to a question from the Washington Blade asking if Footer might later resume his campaign or if his latest action was in effect an end to his candidacy.
“To everyone who knocked on doors, hosted conversations, donated, shared encouragement, and believed in this campaign, thank you,” he says in his statement. “I am deeply grateful for every person who helped this campaign take root,” he added. “This isn’t an ending, it’s a transition. And I’m excited for the work ahead, both in Ward 1 and at home with my family.”
Longtime gay D.C. Democratic Party activist Peter Rosenstein said in a statement to the Blade, “I respect Brian Footer’s decision to end his campaign for Council. It is not easy to run a campaign in D.C. and there are many others running in Ward 1.” He added, “While not living in Ward 1, I thank Brian for all he has done and clearly will continue to do for the people in the ward.”
Politics
LGBTQ Democrats say they’re ready to fight to win in 2026
DNC winter meetings took place last weekend in Los Angeles
The Democratic National Committee held its annual winter meetings in Downtown Los Angeles over the weekend, and queer Democrats showed up with a clear message for the national organization: don’t abandon queer and transgender people.
Following last year’s disastrous presidential and congressional elections, many influential pundits and some powerful lawmakers called on Democrats to distance the party from unpopular positions on trans rights, in order to win swing districts by wooing more conservative voters.
But members of the DNC’s LGBTQ Caucus say that’s actually a losing strategy.
“There are still parts of our party saying we need to abandon trans people in order to win elections, which is just not provable, actually. It’s just some feelings from some old consultants in DC,” LGBTQ Caucus Chair Sean Meloy says.
Some national Democrats are already backtracking from suggestions that they walk back on trans rights.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom grabbed national attention in March when he suggested that it was “deeply unfair” for trans girls to play in women’s sports. But last week, he doubled down on support for trans rights, claiming to have signed more trans-rights legislation than any governor in the country, and entering into feuds on X with Elon Musk and Nicki Minaj over his support for trans kids.
Democrats are also clearly feeling the wind in their sails recently after major election victories in Virginia and New Jersey last month, as well as victories in dozens of local and state legislative elections across the country in 2025.
“[Abigail] Spanberger in Virginia didn’t win by dodging the trans question. She won by attacking it, confronting it, and that’s how she got ahead,” says Vivian Smotherman, a trans activist and at-large member of the DNC’s LGBTQ Caucus.
“Trans people are not a problem. We are a resource,” Smotherman says. “For my community, surviving into adulthood is not a guarantee, it’s an accomplishment. You don’t walk through a survival gauntlet without learning things … I’m not begging the DNC to protect my community. I’m here to remind you that we are the warriors tempered by fire, and we are fully capable of helping this party win.”
At its own meeting on Friday, the LGBTQ Caucus announced several new initiatives to ensure that queer and trans issues stay top of mind for the DNC as it gears up for the midterm elections next year.
One plan is to formalize the DNC’s Trans Advisory Board as distinct from the LGBTQ Caucus, to help introduce candidates across the country to trans people and trans issues.
“One in three people in this country know a trans person. Two-thirds of Americans don’t think they do,” Smotherman says. “So the real problem is not being trans, it’s that you don’t know us. You cannot authentically support a trans person if you’ve never met one.
“That’s why my first goal with this Trans Advisory Board is to host a monthly Meet a Trans Person webinar. Not as a spectacle, as a debate, but as a human connection, and I will be charging every state chair with asking every one of their candidates up and down the board if they know a trans person. And if that person doesn’t know a trans person, I’m gonna have that state chair put them on that webinar.”
The LGBTQ caucus is also opening up associate membership to allies who do not identify as LGBTQ, in order to broaden support and connections over queer issues.
It’s also preparing for the inevitable attacks Republicans will throw at queer candidates and supporters of LGBTQ issues.
“These attacks are going to come. You have to budget money proactively. You have to be ready to fight,” Meloy says. “There are some local party chairs who don’t want to recruit LGBTQ candidates to run because these issues might come up, right? That’s an absolutely ludicrous statement, but there are still people who need support in how to be ready and how to respond to these things that inevitably come.”
“The oldest joke is that Democrats don’t have a spine. And when they come after us, and we do not reply, we play right into that.”
Meloy also alluded to anti-LGBTQ tropes that queer people are out to harm children, and said that Democrats should be prepared to make the case that it’s actually Republicans who are protecting child abusers – for example, by suppressing the Epstein files.
“They are weak on this issue. Take the fight, empower your parties to say, ‘These people have nothing to stand on,’” Meloy says.
Local
LGBTQ, LGBTQ-friendly congregations to hold holiday services
Bet Mishpachah’s Hanukkah service to take place on Friday
LGBTQ and LGBTQ-friendly congregations in D.C. will hold services and other events throughout the holiday season.
Bet Mishpachah on Friday will hold its Sparks in the Dark Happy Hour at Spark Social on 14th Street from 5:30-7:30 p.m. It’s Chanuka Shabbat Service will begin at the Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center (1529 16th St., N.W.) at 8 p.m.
Hanukkah began on Sunday and will end on Dec. 22.
Two gunmen on Sunday killed 15 people and injured more than two dozen others when they opened fire at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
Jake Singer-Beilin, Bet Mishpachah’s chief rabbi, in a Facebook post mourned the victims.
“We grieve for the victims and send heartfelt prayers of healing for those who were wounded,” he wrote.
“This Chanuka, our lights will shine brightly in the darkness, but our hearts will be heavy with mourning for those who were murdered on Bondi Beach while observing what should have been a joyous day,” added Singer-Beilin. “We will still celebrate our Festival of Lights and we will commit ourselves to illuminating and repairing our broken world. Let us channel the bravery of the Maccabees who found hope where there seemed to be none, and who fought to create a better future. We must do the same.”
LGBTQ Catholic group to hold annual Christmas Day Mass
Dignity Washington’s Christmas Day Mass will take place at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church (1820 Connecticut Ave., N.W.) on Dec. 25 from 6-7 p.m. Parishioners can attend in person or watch it online via Facebook.
The Metropolitan Community Church of Washington D.C.’s Christmas Eve service will take place at the church (474 Ridge St., N.W., on Dec. 24 at 6 p.m.
St. Thomas Episcopal Church (1517 18th St., N.W.) in Dupont Circle will hold its Christmas Eve Festival Eucharist from 5-6 p.m. A Christmas Eve dinner will take place in the Parish Hall from 6-8:30 p.m. The church’s Christmas Eve Festival Eucharist will occur on Dec. 25 from 10-11 a.m.
Washington National Cathedral throughout the holiday season has a number of services and events scheduled. These include the virtual Gospel Christmas Service on Dec. 21 from 6-7:30 p.m., the Family Christmas Service on Dec. 23 from 11 a.m. to noon, the Christmas Eve Festival Holy Eucharist on Dec. 24 from 10-11:45 p.m., and the Christmas Day Festival Holy Eucharist on Dec. 25 from 11:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.
The Foundry United Methodist Church (1500 16th St., N.W.) in Dupont Circle will hold its Christmas Eve Family Service on Dec. 24 at 4:30 p.m. Its Carols and Candlelight Service will take place at 8 p.m.
Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum to celebrate Kwanzaa
The Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum (1901 Fort Place S.E.) in Anacostia will mark the first day of Kwanzaa on Dec. 26 with storytelling and drumming with Mama Ayo and Baba Ras D from noon to 2 p.m. The museum will hold a series of other events through the 6-day celebration of African American culture that ends on Jan. 1.
The Creative Suitland Arts Center (4719 Silver Hill Road) in Suitland, Md., on Friday will hold their Almost Kwanzaa: A Creative Kind of Holiday event from 6-8:30 p.m.
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