News
Salir de las redes sociales a las calles
Activistas independientes en Cuba usan métodos innovadores
Un grupo de activistas por los derechos LGBTI+ en Prado y Malecón en La Habana el pasado 27 de octubre. (Foto cortesía de Jimmy Roque Martínez)
Nota del editor: Tremenda Nota es una revista electrónica independiente que documenta la comunidad LGBTI+ del país y otros grupos minoritarios. Tremenda Nota es una pareja de contenido del Washington Blade.
Esa nota salió originalmente en el sitio web de Tremenda Nota.
LA HABANA — Mientras las iglesias se oponen a la aprobación del matrimonio igualitario en Cuba y el Cenesex mantiene una postura pública discreta, los activistas LGBTI+ — menos organizados que las instituciones religiosas ― promueven campañas en diferentes soportes y medios.
A las tres de la tarde del 27 de octubre de 2018, en la intersección de Prado y Malecón, La Habana, debía celebrarse una besada — o Besuqueo, como le llamaron sus organizadoras — en apoyo al matrimonio igualitario. Unas horas antes habían confirmado su asistencia más de 600 personas y la invitación había sido compartida un centenar de veces en redes sociales. “Sacar los besos del clóset” era la divisa.
Durante el Besuqueo el Proyecto Abriendo Brechas de Colores (ABC) — LGTBI — un grupo que busca “generar espacios de diálogo entre los discursos religiosos y sociales en torno a los derechos de las mujeres y las personas LGBTIQ+” ― entregaría folletos sobre el fundamentalismo religioso, así como carteles y pegatinas alegóricos a la diversidad sexual y de género.
ABC también planeaba proyectar videos producidos en la campaña Todos los derechos para todas las familias. Los besos más creativos quedarían plasmados en una sesión de fotos. En esa zona del Prado se “izarían” banderas de la diversidad.
Sin embargo, un día antes de la cita ABC canceló públicamente el Besuqueo por no recibir el permiso estatal para tomar la calle.
Pese a la suspensión, a la hora y el día previstos hubo un flash mob (movilización relámpago) en Prado y Malecón. Acudieron las organizadoras del evento y otros activistas vinculados al Centro Nacional de Educación Sexual (Cenesex). Se besaron.
El Besuqueo no trascendió más: Asistieron unas 30 personas, en lugar de la multitud que podía haber acudido.
La cancelación del evento y la actitud reticente de sus promotoras generaron críticas de varios activistas en las redes sociales. El poeta Norge Espinosa resumió su decepción así: “El activismo de veras se hace con arrojo, con la disposición precisa a ir más allá de los límites permitidos, o no se hace”.
Paradójicamente, dos días antes de que ABC cancelara el Besuqueo, la Iglesia Metodista de Marianao reunió unos 3.500 feligreses en los alrededores del templo para mostrar su desacuerdo con el matrimonio igualitario, según informó la propia institución en su página de Facebook. Celebraron un culto multitudinario, sin permiso de nadie.
Iglesias versus activistas
Hasta ahora las iglesias cubanas han mantenido una postura firme en contra del matrimonio igualitario y “la ideología de género” en las páginas institucionales de sus redes sociales.
Pero su activismo también ha traspasado las fronteras del mundo virtual. Los feligreses han distribuido a lo largo del país carteles y pegatinas que defienden el “diseño original de la familia, como Dios la creó”. También se han manifestado en las calles aledañas a sus templos y, como si fuera poco, han “publicado” sus mensajes en el “paquete semanal”, la variante cubana a la internet.
Ahora quieren llegar más lejos. La reverenda Alida León, presidenta de la Liga Evangélica de Cuba, confirmó a Tremenda Nota que una veintena de denominaciones recogen firmas contra el artículo 68. “No tenemos nada en contra de los homosexuales, pero exigimos que se conserve el concepto de matrimonio como Dios lo creó”.
En efecto, el pasado 13 de noviembre más de una decena de denominaciones cristianas hicieron pública una carta enviada a la “Comisión Constitutiva del del Proyecto de Constitución, Comité Central del PCC”. Las 13 iglesias que suscriben el documento aseguran haber recogido casi 180.000 firmas contra la modificación del concepto de matrimonio en el proyecto de Carta Magna.
La comunidad cristiana podría votar No en el próximo referendo si se mantiene el artículo 68 en el Proyecto de Constitución. En su texto “El artículo 68: Evangélicos, católicos, el movimiento LGBTI y las cortinas de humo” el intelectual y activista Alberto Abreu Arcia asegura que León Báez, uno de los líderes de la iglesia evangélica en Cuba, declaró: “Si no se modifica el tema del matrimonio en el proyecto de Constitución todo votaremos en contra”.
De acuerdo con el Instituto Patmos en 2017 el 10 por ciento de la población cubana profesaba la fe evangélica, mientras que un 35 por ciento se consideraba nominalmente católico. Las denominaciones cristianas están organizadas y tienen presencia a lo largo del archipiélago cubano. Disponen de locales de reunión y de mecanismos de comunicación directa con el Estado. Por ende, el activismo independiente tiene menos ventaja en esta “contienda”.
Muchos defensores de los derechos LGBTI+ en Cuba han tenido que seguir el guión trazado por el Cenesex: Desfilan en mayo a paso de conga y luego regresan a las redes sociales, donde se acumulan denuncias, mensajes y campañas. A las calles no se puede llegar sin la anuencia del Gobierno.
“Las redes sociales y los entornos digitales han venido a suplir las carencias de legitimidad en otros espacios, pero no permiten dar respuesta a todos los desafíos”, explica a Tremenda Nota el joven activista Yadiel Cepero.
“En aras de transformar el estado actual de cosas creo, como muchos otros activistas, que se debe impulsar la agenda LGBTI+ a la par que se impulsan los derechos civiles y políticos. De manera que los colectivos puedan legalizarse, articularse, disponer de espacios de reunión y hacer uso de mecanismos de participación e incidencia política”, asegura Cepero.
Para el fundador de la plataforma de discusión Construyendo una agenda de la diversidad sexual en Cuba, el primer paso de los defensores de los derechos LGBTI+ sería arriesgarse a tomar el espacio público. “La iglesia puso sus carteles y no pasó nada. ¿A qué le tenemos miedo?”
Sin embargo, durante los debates constitucionales un sector del activismo cubano se ha mantenido a la zaga de las iglesias, confiado en el papel del Estado como garante de derechos.
“Tenemos una herencia fuerte de inactividad, de miedo. Muchas veces porque no nos han dejado caminar solos”, asegura la activista y abogada Lidia Romero. “Hemos llegado a un momento importante para impulsar derechos y justo ahora parece que no sabemos qué hacer, ni cómo organizarnos.”
Solo el 17 de mayo ―Día mundial de la lucha contra la homofobia y la transfobia― el Gobierno, a través del Cenesex, autoriza que los activistas, personas LGBTI+ o simpatizantes de la causa de los derechos sexuales marchen. (Foto por Yariel Valdés González)
Algunos activistas creen inevitable la aprobación del artículo 68 y, por tanto, asumen que sería ocioso replicar a los grupos religiosos. El periodista Francisco Rodríguez Cruz aseguró en su blog Paquito el de Cuba que no debe temerse a que “la matriz de opinión conservadora de algunas iglesias pueda imponerse al resto de la sociedad”.
El bloguero explica que los resultados de la consulta popular no los definirá la cantidad de firmas que reúnan las iglesias ni el número de planteamientos en contra del artículo 68, “sino el análisis de la pertinencia o no de cada propuesta que surja del debate, por parte de la comisión redactora del proyecto constitucional y del Parlamento que aprobará el texto definitivo antes del referendo”.
La opinión de Rodríguez Cruz se apoya en las declaraciones del Secretario del Consejo de Estado, Homero Acosta Álvarez. El pasado 17 de octubre, durante la inauguración del Congreso Internacional Abogacía 2018, el jurista dijo: “El Derecho no puede permanecer esclavo perpetuo de rezagos sociales, aún cuando en un momento pueda entrar en colisión con parte del espectro social. En su misión transformadora le corresponde también impulsar el desarrollo”.
‘Vamos a convocar nuevas besadas’
En las últimas semanas varios activistas han puesto a circular en las redes sociales videos cortos donde personas LGBTI+ (o no) muestran su apoyo al artículo 68 del Proyecto de Constitución.
Las páginas 68Va, Acepto, Por el matrimonio igualitario en Cuba, Proyecto Abriendo Brechas de Colores – LGTBI, Construyendo una agenda de la diversidad sexual en Cuba e Iglesia de la Comunidad Metropolitana en Cuba (ICM) llevan adelante diferentes campañas en las redes sociales. También se suman varios cibernautas desde sus perfiles personales o sus blogs.
Sin embargo, las propuestas o campañas generadas en estas plataformas digitales no logran trascender el espacio virtual en un país cuya población mayoritaria permanece desconectada.
Unos meses atrás, el 11 de mayo, una veintena de intelectuales y activistas cubanos publicaron una detallada agenda por los derechos LGBTI+ en Cuba. El documento — primero de su tipo en el país — incluye 63 demandas específicas y se divide en dos grandes secciones: medidas legislativas y políticas, planes y estrategias. Todos sus firmantes son miembros de la sociedad civil.
Algunos de los suscriptores son activistas que buscan alternativas independientes del Estado o el Cenesex para encauzar sus demandas.
“(El Cenesex) es una institución que excluye a quienes no concuerdan con sus ideas políticas, tampoco socializa los avances de su labor, sino que nos pide confiar en que ʻestán trabajandoʼ, sin tener más información que esto. No nos trata como iguales, ni como parte”, agrega Lidia Romero.
Recientemente, la activista Sandra Álvarez Ramírez, otrora webmaster del Cenesex y miembro del consejo editorial de la revista Sexología y Sociedad, fue replicada por el perfil de Facebook de la institución. “Los ʻperiodistas de verdadʼ no recibimos instrucciones desde Berlín”, escribió Cenesex cuando la psicóloga cubana residente en Alemania preguntó sobre la cancelación del Besuqueo.
Para varios militantes el panorama actual empeora por la falta de articulación de un movimiento LGBTI+ en Cuba. “Si tú no tienes espacios de socialización, ni de accionar, ni una institución que te represente como un todo, y ni siquiera puedes asociarte legalmente, entonces no hay trabajo articulado, pero debemos vencer esos límites”, termina Romero.
Menos unidos, más rezagados que las iglesias, los activistas comienzan a salir discretamente de las redes, empiezan a saber que les corresponde emplazar al Estado, a las instituciones y a una parte de la sociedad negada a que todas las personas alcancen todos los derechos.
Jimmy Roque Martínez — uno de ellos — no cree que los simpatizantes con la causa de los derechos sexuales deban mantenerse esperando los resultados del referendo constitucional con discreción. “Además de las historias de vida y opiniones que comenzaron a circular en las redes sociales, y las páginas creadas también vamos a convocar nuevas besadas, solo que estas no van a cancelarse”, augura.
Minnesota
Flanagan beats Craig in Minn. Senate primary after winning key LGBTQ endorsements
The race highlights a growing ideological shift within the Democratic Party, as Democrats increasingly seek a more robust pushback against Trump.
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan won the Democratic primary for the Senate in Minnesota, as progressive Democrats continue to clinch nominations across the country.
On Tuesday night, NBC News called the race for Flanagan, who received 59.0% of the state’s Democratic primary vote, while her opponent, Rep. Angie Craig, received 39.4%. Flanagan ran against Craig for retiring Sen. Tina Smith’s seat.
Smith, along with Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., endorsed Flanagan, while House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., backed Craig.
Flanagan also received the endorsement of the Christopher Street Project, a transgender rights organization that has been at the center of efforts to counter the Republican Party’s push against transgender rights. The group chose Flanagan over Craig in part because Craig has not co-sponsored the Trans Bill of Rights, legislation that has been introduced multiple times in Congress and seeks to establish federal protections for transgender Americans.
The endorsement underscored a key difference between the two Democrats on LGBTQ issues. While Craig is the first openly lesbian mother in Congress, the Christopher Street Project said LGBTQ identity alone is not enough without a strong commitment to transgender rights as they are increasingly debated in legislative offices around the country.
In 2022, the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ advocacy organization in the U.S., endorsed Flanagan’s re-election campaign for lieutenant governor alongside Tim Walz, calling the duo “Champions of Equality.”
Flanagan called the race an expensive fight of the “many versus the money,” Flanagan told NBC News’ “Meet the Press Now.” Craig and her allies combined to spend nearly $20 million on the airwaves, while Flanagan and her allies spent $4.7 million, according to AdImpact and NBC.
“I’m running to make sure that people can afford the lives they want to live,” Flanagan said. “I want to get big money out of our politics, and I want to fight for things like ‘Medicare for All’ so that people aren’t just paying for health insurance but actually have access to health care.”
Flanagan criticized Craig, who is in her fourth term, for not standing up enough to President Donald Trump’s administration, a characterization Craig disputed. Craig flipped a competitive House seat in the Twin Cities metro area and had argued that she was the best candidate to win in November.
Craig faced criticism for voting for the Laken Riley Act, an immigration detention measure that Trump signed into law shortly after he started his second term in January 2025. Craig said she later regretted that vote.
Flanagan has been vocal about her stance on abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In a recent Minnesota Public Radio debate she said that ICE “has to be ripped apart.” Flanagan said she does support immigration enforcement to ensure secure borders.
Immigration and ICE debates are especially pertinent in the Twin Cities, as ICE agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis during an enforcement crackdown at the behest of President Trump.
Despite the contested race, Craig made it clear that Democrats are committed to unifying.
“We have an existential crisis in our nation with Trump and Republicans, and so I would be right by the lieutenant governor’s side asking my supporters to support her,” Craig said. “The most important thing in this election is that we beat Republicans. That’s what matters.”
On the Republican side, former NFL sideline reporter Michele Tafoya won the Senate primary. Considered an outsider to the Republican Party structure, she did not win the state GOP’s endorsement at the May convention, where delegates instead backed retired Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze.
She has run her campaign on a slew of issues Republicans have deemed worthy — including transgender sports participation, corruption, and minimizing illegal immigrants in the area.
This recent pattern of moderate and centrist Democrats raising huge funds — in many instances backed by major PACs — only to lose to more progressive and less experienced candidates is growing as more people grow disillusioned with the Democratic Party’s inability to push back against Trump and Republicans. A similar outcome happened in Michigan’s Democratic primary last week when progressive physician Abdul El-Sayed won over incumbent U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.).
Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who decided not to run for re-election, stayed neutral in the Senate primary but his wife, Gwen, backed Craig over Flanagan, the governor’s ticketmate.
The Senate seat will be determined in the election on Tuesday, November 3, later this year.
District of Columbia
Gay ANC commissioner sues D.C. over police ‘failure’ to pay reward money
Lawsuit says information led to conviction in murder, armed robbery cases
Gay D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Tom Donohue on Aug. 11 filed a lawsuit in D.C. Superior Court charging that D.C. police acted improperly and violated a local law by not paying him $30,000 in reward money for his role in helping police identify and arrest — and obtain the subsequent conviction — of one man charged with murder and another man charged with armed robbery in separate cases.
Although the lawsuit alleges improper action by D.C. police in carrying out the city’s Crime Solvers reward program, it names as defendants the District of Columbia and the Office of the Attorney General for D.C., which, among other things, defends the city against lawsuits.
Donohue, who is a member of the city’s ANC Rainbow Caucus consisting of LGBTQ elected ANC members, held a news conference outside the D.C. Superior Court building on Aug. 11 to talk about the lawsuit before entering the courthouse to officially file it.
The lawsuit states that Donohue “provided key video evidence that led to the arrest and conviction” of a man initially charged with first degree murder for allegedly running over a bicyclist with his car after the two got into an argument.
The lawsuit states that police had offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the defendant in that case, but police “arbitrarily slashed the payment to $5,000 without prior notice or policy justification.”
Court records show that D.C. resident Eric Beasley was charged with first degree murder for killing David Farewell, 45, by hitting him with his car on Sept. 4, 2020, on the 2100 block of Young Street, S.E. The records show the evidence for the case was based in large part on video camera footage of the incident obtained by police. Donohoe has said he provided that video camera evidence.
The records show that during Beasley’s October 2023 trial a jury was unable to reach the required unanimous verdict, and the judge declared a mistrial.
According to the records, Beasley later agreed to an offer by prosecutors to plead guilty to a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced in September 2024 to eight years in prison, a development that angered the victim’s family members who called it a “slap on the wrist,” according to a Fox 5 News report.
Donohue’s lawsuit says the second case in which he provided police with pivotal information involved a series of armed robberies known as the Fairlawn Serial Armed Robbery Spree that occurred in the Fairlawn neighborhood in Southeast D.C. in 2023 near where Donohue lives.
The lawsuit says evidence consisting of video surveillance footage provided by Donohue to police enabled police to determine they initially wrongfully arrested an 18-year-old male for the robberies. “Using Plaintiff’s security video, MPD identified, arrested, and convicted the actual robber, David Crocker, who was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison,” the lawsuit states.
It says one of the detectives investigating the case recommended a $10,000 reward for Donohue’s help in the case based on the police Crime Solvers reward program. The detective’s recommendation was approved by then-Assistant D.C. Police Chief Kyle Ramey on Aug. 4, 2025, according to the lawsuit.
But it adds, “Nevertheless, MPD improperly withheld payment.”
When contacted by the Washington Blade for comment on Donohue’s lawsuit allegations, a D.C. police spokesperson said “MPD does not comment on pending or ongoing litigation.”
Gabriel Shoglow-Rubenstein, who serves as press secretary for the D.C. Office of the Attorney General, which will be defending the city against the Donohue lawsuit, said he would look into obtaining a possible comment but said the office has a similar longstanding policy of not commenting on pending litigation.
“This action arises from the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department’s arbitrary, bad-faith, and legally unsupportable failure to honor its public reward promises and administrative obligations to Plaintiff,” the lawsuit states.
It says the MPD violated the city’s Freedom of Information Act or FOIA law by not responding to Donohue’s request for information and documents related to the decision not to pay him the full reward money.
“MPD’s reduction of Plaintiff’s homicide reward from $25,000 to $5,000, and its withholding of his approved $10,00 robbery reward, were undertaken completely devoid of written standards, making such decisions inherently arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of administrative discretion,” it says.
It calls for Donohue to be awarded $30,000 in compensatory damages consisting of the $20,000 “unpaid balance” for the homicide case reward and $10,000 for the robbery case reward. It also calls for reimbursement for “reasonable” litigation costs and attorney’s fees. Donohue told the Washington Blade that at this time he is representing himself without an attorney.
Donohue told the Blade that the refusal by D.C. police to pay him the full reward money also limited his plans to donate some of that money to the family of murder victim David Farewell to help pay for a burial stone. He said that due to the family’s limited resources Farewell is buried in an unmarked grave
Delaware
New LGBTQ visitor center slated for Wilmington, Del.
The Collective to feature gift shop, queer museum, more
During Pride month this year, the Delaware Sexuality and Gender Collective (DSGC) announced plans for The Collective, which will become Delaware’s first LGBTQIA+ visitor center and Wilmington’s first dedicated LGBTQIA+ space in nearly 40 years.
“We’ve been talking about the concept of a brick-and-mortar space for a long time,” said Noah Duckett, co-founder of DSGC.
A licensed clinical social worker, Duckett co-founded DSGC with his mother, Julissa Coriano, in 2018. DSGC is an independent nonprofit organization that provides vital clinical and educational support, social programming and direct-need support to the LGBTQIA+ community.
Some of the programs DSGC offers include a free clothing closet for the trans community, meal support for people recovering from gender-affirming surgery, connections to pro bono legal services, a biannual Pride Market featuring over 100 LGBTQIA+-owned small businesses, and more.
“Our vision for The Collective is a place where our community can come to learn, create, work and be inspired,” said Coriano.
The Collective will feature a visitor center and gift shop highlighting LGBTQIA+-owned businesses in Delaware.
“I think that this is something that’s going to benefit our community so much,” said Duckett.
Some of the LGBTQIA+-owned businesses that DSGC has already partnered with include Stress Induced Art Attack, Moonbeam Art Collaborative, Voce Coffee, Groovy Gemini Co., Scout Cafe, Macaron Social and Huxley and Hiro.
“Specifically in Wilmington, we haven’t had an LGBTQIA+-dedicated space in almost 40 years,” said Duckett.
The Griffin Community Center, which operated from 1986 to 1990, was Delaware’s first LGBTQ+ community center. The Griffin was founded by Ivo Dominguez Jr. and James C. Welch and provided a range of community services during the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis, including AIDS hotlines, organizational offices and meeting space. The center ultimately closed because of a lack of financial support.
Duckett said DSGC hopes The Collective will carry on The Griffin’s legacy while building a sustainable space for the LGBTQIA+ community.
“I think now more than ever, there’s more and more spaces closing their doors. More and more spaces are losing funding, seeing reduced funding and reduced access, especially LGBTQ+ organizations and communities,” said Duckett.
The Collective will also feature Delaware’s first LGBTQ+ history museum, curated by LGBTQ+ historian Carolanne Deal.
“We don’t have any permanent displays in the state about Delaware’s queer history, and we want people to be able to access that history any day of the year, not just during Pride Month,” said Deal.
With a master’s degree in art history for museum professionals, Deal has more than seven years of experience in curatorial work and hands-on collections care.
“It’s mainly going to be a graphic display with photographs, articles and accessible text that draws people in and creates a story for the community,” said Deal.
Although the museum will not initially have an object collection, Deal said she hopes to add physical archival pieces in the future.
“Delaware has been at the forefront of a lot of queer civil rights, and it’ll be really amazing to have that enshrined in a permanent display that’s not only up for Pride Month,” said Deal.
Duckett said DSGC is currently raising funds with the goal of beginning construction this summer and opening by the end of the year.
Duckett told the Blade that fundraising efforts have reached just under $29,000 and that the organization is awaiting several major donations from community partner organizations.
However, he said DSGC continues to be denied many grants tied to federal or state funding because of restrictions on those funds being used for LGBTQ+-serving organizations.
“Private and corporate donations are absolutely vital,” said Duckett.
Anyone interested in supporting the construction and renovation of The Collective can donate online or contact [email protected] for more information.ose funds being used for LGBTQ-serving organizations.
“Private and corporate donations are absolutely vital,” said Duckett.
Anyone interested in supporting the construction of The Collective can donate online or contact [email protected] for more information.
Flanagan beats Craig in Minn. Senate primary after winning key LGBTQ endorsements
Gay ANC commissioner sues D.C. over police ‘failure’ to pay reward money
New LGBTQ visitor center slated for Wilmington, Del.
Jason DePuy on coping with homophobia in ‘Big Brother’ house
