Opinions
Fidel’s death leaves us with everything to do
Trump ‘gives’ an enemy back to Cuban government
A sign on the road between the cities of Santa Clara and Sagua la Grande, Cuba, with former Cuban President Fidel Castro‘s picture reads “revolution is unity.” (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
The man of inconsistencies has died. Founder of schools and concentration camps, endless orator and suppressor of dissenting voices, Fidel Castro is defined by his contradictory gestures. While America was in charge of a suit tailored for the party that was the Cold War, he went to dance a Cossack dance in Moscow. When America opened its nuclear umbrella to defend countries without nuclear weapons, he shouted: “Nikita, shoot first.” Fidel Castro had a paradoxical beard.
Cubans are not sure what to do with this body. On one hand, the reforms of recent years have left Fidel’s regime untouched. Cuba remains under the control of a single party and it has failed to overcome the economic stagnation. The Cuban system, at this point, can only survive if stagnation were to continue. Any attempt to correct it would cause the whole thing to collapse.
The mass funerals prove the need to prolong the myth of Fidel, to make it more pharaonic so that Cuba will continue in the routine of immobility.
Barack Obama’s policies interrupted the lethargy. Trump gives the necessary enemy back to Havana. Another context for the regime’s international isolation and eternity is coming. They have a sense of déjà vu when they remember political speeches of confrontation and the scenario where obstinacy was entrenched. It was a landscape with two sides: A battle between good and evil, depending how you look at it.
Raúl Castro’s government made no concession in terms of human rights during the process of normalizing relations. But at least he agreed to sit at the table. Perhaps the United States was not the best interlocutor, but Obama was. Or so it seemed. Because, in any case, his gifts for political communication highlighted the oldness, the ineffectiveness of the governing discourse in Havana.
Over the last year, however, the situation of human rights defenders has deteriorated. A major campaign began in state media against certain emerging forms of journalism, against alternative newspapers. It reached a climax a month before Fidel Castro’s death: Massive detentions when we did not expect them. The arrests appeared to be an inexplicable remedy in the new context of dialogue.
The great funeral that ended in Santiago de Cuba proves that the era of mass mobilizations, the era of dichotomies and political fanaticism has not ended in Cuba. Fidel Castro left behind a country accustomed to a single command and a charismatic leadership, a failing nation that responds to political diversity with intransigence that still works effectively for the Third World and countries that have recently moved to the left, but rule of law does not work domestically.
Independent activists, these islands of civil society who endure, predicted desperate reactions. Repression will increase. They await new attacks against forms of journalism that are beyond state control. Of course, the samizdat newspapers are already unstoppable on the web. They cannot be burned like papers.
LGBT rights activists, however, remain discouraged because it is impossible for us to associate with each other. The fact that some groups function does not imply that a true movement capable of channeling the demands of a community with so many historical debts exists.
Fidel Castro’s death leaves us with everything to do. Political reform is still pending. The system is preparing theirs and there are many indications that it will reform the military, to build some credibility in their exercise of power.
The following has yet to be done: Marriage equality and the press law, administrative decentralization and a pluralistic Parliament. In short, democracy is about to happen without the “historic generation” of the Cuban revolution, without Fidel’s absorbing trajectory. Yes, we will have the clearest way.
Maykel González Vivero is an independent Cuban journalist and LGBT activist.
La muerte de Fidel nos encontró con todo por hacer
Murió el hombre de las incongruencias. Fundador de escuelas y de campos de concentración, orador infinito y mordaza de palabras ajenas, a Fidel Castro lo definen sus gestos contradictorios. Mientras América se encargaba un traje a medida para la fiesta de la Guerra Fría, él se fue a bailar una danza cosaca en Moscú. Cuando América abría su paraguas nuclear, él gritaba: “Nikita, dispara primero.” Fidel Castro tenía una barba paradójica.
Los cubanos no saben a ciencia cierta qué hacer con este cadáver. Por un lado, el régimen de Fidel permanece intocado, a pesar de las reformas de los últimos años. Cuba sigue sometida al partido único y no consigue superar la deformación económica. El sistema cubano, a estas alturas, sólo puede sobrevivir si persiste en la deformación. Cualquier intento de corrección acabaría por derrumbar el edificio.
Los multitudinarios funerales prueban la necesidad de prolongar el mito de Fidel, de hacerlo más faraónico, para que Cuba continúe en la rutina de su inmovilidad.
Las políticas de Barack Obama interrumpieron el letargo. Ahora Trump le devuelve el enemigo necesario a La Habana. Viene otro pretexto para el aislamiento internacional y la eternidad del régimen. Los discursos políticos de confrontación recuerdan, como un déjà vu, al escenario donde se enquistó la obstinación. Un paisaje con dos orillas. Una batalla entre el bien y el mal, según la orilla que se use para mirar.
El gobierno de Raúl Castro no hizo concesión en materia de derechos humanos durante el proceso de normalización de relaciones. Pero al menos accedía a sentarse a la mesa. Quizás Estados Unidos no era el mejor interlocutor, pero Obama sí lo era. O lo parecía. Porque, en cualquier caso, sus dotes para la comunicación política evidenciaron la vejez, la inoperancia del discurso gobernante en La Habana.
Durante el último año, no obstante, la situación de los defensores de derechos humanos empeoró. Comenzó una gran campaña de los medios estatales contra cierto periodismo emergente, contra los periódicos alternativos que aparecieron en los últimos meses. Llegó el clímax un mes antes de la muerte de Fidel Castro: detenciones masivas cuando no las esperábamos, cuando las detenciones parecían un recurso inaplicable en el nuevo contexto de diálogo.
El gran funeral concluido en Santiago de Cuba prueba que la era de las movilizaciones, la era de las dicotomías y el fanatismo político, no ha acabado en Cuba. Fidel Castro dejó un país habituado al mando único y al liderazgo carismático, una nación defectuosa que responde a la diversidad política con intransigencia, que todavía funciona afectivamente para el tercer mundo y las recientes izquierdas, pero no funciona hacia adentro como un Estado de derecho.
Los activistas, esas islas que la sociedad civil conserva, pronostican reacciones desesperadas. La represión arreciará. Aguardan nuevos ataques al periodismo que se consolida fuera del control estatal. Desde luego, ya los periódicos samizdat resultan indetenibles en la web. No se les puede quemar como a papeles.
Los activismos por los derechos LGBT, en cambio, continúan desalentados por la imposibilidad de asociación. Que funcionen algunos grupos no implica que exista un verdadero movimiento capaz de encauzar las demandas de una comunidad con tantas deudas históricas.
La muerte de Fidel Castro nos encontró con todo por hacer. La reforma política sigue pendiente. El sistema prepara la suya y abundan indicios de que se hará en provecho de los militares, para construirles alguna credibilidad en su ejercicio del poder.
Todo está por hacer: el matrimonio igualitario y la ley de prensa, la descentralización administrativa y el parlamento plural. En fin, la democracia está por hacerse. Sin la generación histórica, sin la trayectoria absorbente de Fidel, eso sí, tendremos el camino más despejado.
Maykel González Vivero es un periodista y activista LGBT independiente cubano.
Opinions
A reminder that Jan. 6 was ‘textbook terrorism’
Capitol attack started an effort to make civic engagement feel dangerous
Jan. 6 taught us what it costs to defend our families and our communities.
Five years ago, Michael Fanone went to work as a Metropolitan Police Department officer and ended the day fighting for his life while defending the United States Capitol.
After Michael spoke publicly about what he witnessed on Jan. 6, the response was not disagreement or debate. It was intimidation. His mother was swatted in a targeted attack.
We are not immediate family, but we spend holidays together. Our lives overlap. And that was close enough.
Unpaid pizza deliveries were sent to our homes. Strangers showed up demanding payment. Threats followed, by phone and online. The message was unmistakable: Speaking out against Donald Trump would come at a cost, not only for you, but for your family.
As Mayor Muriel Bowser said at the time, Jan. 6 was “textbook terrorism.”
What made this harder was not only the intimidation itself, but the absence of any clear support once the headlines faded. One of us was a Metropolitan Police officer. The other served on the D.C. State Board of Education. If anyone should have known where to turn or had access to guidance or protection, it should have been us. Instead, there were no clear resources to help families deal with harassment, no guidance on what to do when threats followed us home, and no sense that anyone had our backs once the attention moved on. We were left to absorb it quietly and figure it out ourselves.
That experience changed how I understood Jan. 6, not as a single violent day, but as the start of a longer effort to make civic engagement feel dangerous and isolating. You do not have to silence everyone. You only have to make examples of a few.
I know many people in this city recognize that feeling now. The sense that speaking out carries risk. That you cannot afford to lose your job. That scrubbing your social media is safer than risking the consequences. In this context, silence is not necessarily apathy. It is self-preservation.
As a school board member and healthcare navigator, I hear it from families who decide to keep their children at home rather than send them to school. I hear it from families who decide not to re-certify their Medicaid, not because they are ineligible, but because they fear being targeted for using public benefits. These are not abstract concerns. They are everyday decisions shaped by fear of retaliation, fear learned by watching what happens to people who speak out.
More people in our city are now asking the same question my family was forced to confront on Jan. 6: Who will back you when the pressure does not stop, or when it follows you home after work?
This is where the city should step in and say clearly: We will have your back.
Yes, D.C. operates under real constraints. We lack statehood. We cannot deploy the National Guard without federal approval. Congress can overturn our laws.
But even within those limits, choices still matter. Across D.C., neighbors are walking children to school when families fear being targeted by ICE. Passersby are stopping to question why someone is being profiled or detained. These acts do not eliminate risk. They redistribute it, often making the difference between retreat and resistance.
This is not about asking everyone to be louder or braver on their own. It is about whether we are willing, as a city and a community, to make it safer for people to stand up to a bully. That means building real support around those who take risks, so they are not left isolated afterward. It means treating endurance as a shared responsibility, not an individual test.
Our city may not have all the powers it would have as a state, but we still have choices. Right now, residents and city workers who face threats are left to navigate a maze of agencies, hotlines, and informal advice on their own. That gap is a policy choice, and it does not have to remain one. There should be one clear place to go when harassment or threats occur, a single point of contact that helps document what’s happening, connects people to existing resources, and coordinates a response across agencies. Not a new bureaucracy, but a clear front door. The message it would send matters as much as the help itself. You are not on your own, and the city is paying attention beyond the news cycle.
Jan. 6 did not end at the Capitol. It moved into our neighborhoods, our families, and our daily choices. The work now is not to demand a single expression of courage, but to make it safer for all of us to stand up in our own way, together.
Allister Chang is a member of the D.C. State Board Of Education from Ward 2.
Opinions
A dangerous precedent on trans rights in Texas
State compiling list of those who have updated gender on driver’s licenses
Recent reporting from Texas Standard revealed what should alarm every American who values privacy, civil rights, and constitutional restraint: the state of Texas is compiling a list of transgender residents who have attempted to update the gender marker on their driver’s licenses.
Under a policy quietly implemented after August 2024, the Texas Department of Public Safety stopped accepting court orders or amended birth certificates as valid documentation for gender marker changes. Instead, DPS employees were instructed to forward the names and identifying information of applicants seeking such updates to a dedicated internal email channel labeled “Sex Change Court Order.” Those records, which include sensitive personal information, are now being collected internally by the state.
Texas officials have not offered a clear explanation for why this information is being gathered, how long it will be retained, or what it will ultimately be used for. That lack of transparency is deeply troubling on its own. But in the broader context of Texas’s recent legislative trajectory on transgender rights, the implications are far more serious. This is not merely a bureaucratic shift. It is the creation of a targeted registry of transgender people.
The discriminatory nature of this practice is difficult to ignore. Governments are generally prohibited from singling out individuals based on protected characteristics for special monitoring or record-keeping. Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, discrimination against transgender people has been understood as a form of sex discrimination under federal law. Compiling a list of people solely because they sought to align their identification documents with their gender identity runs directly counter to that principle.
Even states with restrictive policies around gender marker changes have historically focused on procedural barriers rather than surveillance. Texas has crossed a new threshold by moving from denial to documentation. The state is no longer just refusing recognition; it is actively cataloging those who seek it.
This practice also represents a profound violation of privacy. Driver’s license records contain some of the most sensitive personal data the government holds. Associating that data with a person’s transgender status without consent or statutory justification creates obvious risks, particularly in a political environment where transgender people are already subject to heightened hostility.
The chilling effect is unavoidable. Trans Texans will now have to weigh whether engaging with basic state services could land them on a government list. That fear will discourage people from updating identification, interacting with public agencies, or asserting their legal rights at all. When a government’s actions deter a specific population from participating in civic life, the harm extends well beyond administrative inconvenience.
What makes this development especially dangerous is how neatly it fits into a broader pattern. Texas lawmakers have spent years advancing legislation that narrows the legal definition of sex, restricts access to gender-affirming care, and limits the recognition of transgender people across public institutions. The creation of this list does not stand apart from those efforts; it complements them.
Once such a database exists, it becomes a tool. Data collected today for “administrative review” can be used tomorrow to justify new exclusions, enhanced scrutiny, or punitive enforcement. History shows that registries built around identity rarely remain benign. They become mechanisms of control.
Other states are watching. Texas has increasingly functioned as a testing ground for anti-trans policy, with lawmakers elsewhere ready to replicate measures that survive legal or political backlash. If compiling a list of transgender residents becomes normalized in Texas, it will not remain isolated. Red states searching for new ways to restrict trans lives will take notice.
The constitutional issues raised by this practice are significant. The Equal Protection Clause forbids states from treating similarly situated individuals differently without sufficient justification. Singling out transgender people for special tracking invites heightened scrutiny. There are also serious Fourth Amendment concerns when the government collects and retains sensitive personal information without a clear, lawful purpose.
At stake is not just the safety of transgender Texans, but the integrity of government itself. If states are permitted to quietly assemble lists of disfavored populations, the precedent does not stop with gender identity. It becomes easier to rationalize similar measures against other groups, under different political conditions.
This moment demands scrutiny and resistance. Texas must be compelled to explain why this data is being collected, how it will be protected, and whether it will be shared across agencies. Civil rights organizations and federal authorities should treat this practice as a serious warning sign, not a minor administrative quirk.
The United States has made meaningful progress toward recognizing the rights and dignity of transgender people, but that progress is fragile. It can be reversed not only through sweeping legislation, but through quiet bureaucratic maneuvers that evade public attention.
A list of transgender citizens is not a neutral administrative artifact. It is a signal. It tells a vulnerable population that their government is watching them differently, recording them differently, and preparing to treat them differently. That should concern everyone, regardless of where they live.
If we allow this to stand, Texas will not be the last state to do it.
Isaac Amend is a writer based in the D.C. area. He is a transgender man and was featured in National Geographic’s ‘Gender Revolution’ documentary. He serves on the board of the LGBT Democrats of Virginia. Contact him on Instagram at @isaacamend
One year gone, another just beginning. The best of all worlds would be no regrets about how you lived your life in 2025, and a positive outlook for 2026. I wish that for all of you, along with good health and happiness.
For me, 2025 was a good year. No new health issues as long as I don’t consider my recent root canal. Friends kidded if that was my worst, life is OK. But then they didn’t sit in the dentist chair for three hours. As you are aware, if reading this in the Blade, I write about politics. The felon in the White House ensures there is always something to write about. Unfortunately, it’s 99% bad. He recently said he will interfere in Europe, and support far-right parties. Not surprising for him, and his fascist leaning administration. Again, as you know, I usually refer to him as ‘The felon,’ my most polite name for him. He has a slew of scary incompetents around him, but truly frightening are the fascists like Russell Vought at OMB who wrote Project 2025, and his personal Goebbels, Stephen Miller. They are proposing policies that are destroying lives. While many don’t impact me, they create a certain amount of guilt in how I live my life. I am a white, privileged, cisgender, older, male and can escape the immediate repercussions of some of the worst things happening in the world today. Nearly all perpetrated, or supported, by the evil SOB in the White House. There, another name for him.
As long as my Social Security keeps coming, and Medicare still pays 80% of my doctor bills, I should be OK. In 2025, I continued to join friends every morning for coffee. In D.C. at Java House; in Rehoboth Beach, it’s The Coffee Mill, owned by my good friends Mel Damascena and Bob Cartwright.
My regular column allows me to vent and comment on the world. My second column is the Blade’s Comings & Goings column. It lets me share the successes of so many in the LGBTQ community. We have a truly amazing community, of which I am so proud to be a part. In 2025, I also began my second book, this one on politics, but don’t hold your breath for a publication date. I am also a theater reviewer for the Georgetown Dish. I get to see as many plays as I like, and share thoughts about them. Mind you, I call myself a reviewer, not a critic. I always try to find something nice to say about every production, even if I don’t recommend others see it. Maybe a good actor, great scenic designer, always something good even in a bad production.
I am fortunate to continue to travel. Now it’s on cruise ships. Great to unpack once, and know where the bathroom is. This past year I went on two cruises, and the Blade was kind enough to publish my blogs. One, a bucket list cruise, something I wanted to do for over 40 years, to the Norwegian Fjords, and the Arctic. Twelve days on Celebrity APEX out of Southampton. It was amazing, and met all my expectations. The second was my recent transatlantic cruise, something I do annually, with a large group of friends from around the country, and world. It was 13 nights from Rome to Ft. Lauderdale. I’ve already booked next October; 16 nights on Celebrity XCEL, Barcelona to Miami. I even have two cruises booked in 2027, one a transatlantic, the other a river cruise on the Douro, in Portugal. Feel free to join me if you like cruising, at least the kind done on the water.
All-in-all, 2025 was a good year. I look forward to the same in 2026. More travel, including a barge trip in June from Lyon to Paris, through the canals of Burgundy. I hope for good health, time with good friends, and more writing. In addition, I promise my friends, and community, I will continue to fight with, and for you, trying to make our lives better. I will demonstrate against the felon and his policies, work hard to elect Democrats, especially my friend Zach Wahls, running for United States Senate in Iowa. I will stand up, and speak out, for my trans friends, and friends who are immigrants, all threatened by the felon.
I ask you to join me and do everything we can to take back our country and look forward to maybe seeing many of you on a cruise, but definitely on the battle lines, here at home. Together, we can work in 2026 and beyond, to ensure everyone can live the life they want, and deserve; in what again must be the land of the free and home of the brave.
Peter Rosenstein is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist.
PHOTOS: Freddie’s Follies
Imperial Court of Washington drag group has ‘dissolved’
What to watch for in 2026: midterms, Supreme Court, and more
A reminder that Jan. 6 was ‘textbook terrorism’
Claudia López criticizes Trump over threats against Colombian president
D.C.’s 10 best theater productions of 2025
A look back at the best books of 2025
The year in photos
Safer Ways to Pay for Online Performances and Queer Events
