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Gay former Cuba lawmaker banned from leaving country

Luis Ángel Adán Roble supports anti-government protesters

Published

5 years ago

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Luis Ángel Adán Roble (Photo courtesy of Facebook)

A gay man who is a former member of Cuba’s National Assembly has been banned from leaving the country.

Luis Ángel Adán Roble on Aug. 14 tweeted a picture of a Cuba’s Interior Ministry website that indicates he cannot travel “for reasons of public interest.”

Adán told the Washington Blade that authorities have not told him why they decided to ban him from traveling outside of Cuba. He speculated they sanctioned him because he refused to “work with” state security officials.

Adán in his Aug. 14 tweet described the decision as “illegal” and a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Human Rights Watch Americas Division Executive Director José Miguel Vivanco and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet are among those who Adán tagged.

Adán represented the Havana neighborhood of Centro Habana in the National Assembly from April 19, 2018, through Nov. 21, 2019. He was the only openly gay man in the legislative body at the time.

Adán in May 2019 spoke at an LGBTQ Victory Institute-sponsored conference that took place in Colombia. Tremenda Nota, the Blade’s media partner in Cuba, reported he had a falling out with the National Center for Sexual Education, a group directed by Mariela Castro, the daughter of former President Raúl Castro that spearheads LGBTQ-specific issues on the island, before he was “relieved” of his public duties.

Adán has publicly backed the anti-government protesters who took to the streets across Cuba on July 11. Adán has also expressed his support for Yoan de la Cruz, a gay man who used Facebook Live to live-stream the first July 11 protest that took place in San Antonio de los Baños, a municipality in Artemisa province that is just outside of Havana.

Authorities detained De La Cruz on July 23. Adán on Monday tweeted De La Cruz is now in a prison in Güines, a municipality in Mayabeque province, and has been accused of “inciting the masses.”

“He was very skinny and very depressed when his family saw him,” tweeted Adán. “His lawyer has for a second time asked for charges to be dropped.”

Adán on Monday criticized a new internet law that the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs describes as “another censorship law in a clear post-protest attempt to silence the Cuban people.” Adán in a tweet said Cuba “is a dictatorship.”

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Hungary

Charges against Budapest mayor for organizing Pride march dropped

Country’s new government took office last month

Published

3 days ago

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June 4, 2026

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The Hungarian parliament in Budapest, Hungary, on April 4, 2024. Authorities have dropped charges against Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony over his role in organizing the city's 2025 Pride march. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Hungarian authorities on Thursday dropped charges against Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony over his role in organizing the city’s 2025 Pride march.

Karácsony spoke at the event, even though then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government banned it.

More than 100,000 people defied the ban and participated in the march that took place on June 28, 2025. The Associated Press notes the Budapest Chief Prosecutor’s Office in January charged Karácsony with “organizing the unlawful assembly despite a prohibition order.”

Karácsony, who has been Budapest’s mayor since 2019, described himself as a “proud defendant” after his indictment.

“It seems that in this country, this is the price you pay if you stand up for your own freedom and the freedom of others,” he said in a statement, according to the AP. “If anyone thinks they can ban me, deter me, or prevent me and my city from doing so, they are gravely mistaken.”

Budapest is Hungary’s capital and largest city.

Prime Minister Péter Magyar took office last month after his center-right Tisza party ousted Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition in elections that took place on April 12.

Hungarian police on May 29 announced they will allow the Budapest Pride march to take place this year.

The European Union’s top court, the EU Court of Justice, days after Orbán’s ouster struck down Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law that MPs approved in 2021. The BBC notes Hungarian authorities cited the decision in their decision to drop the charges against Karácsony.

Authorities in Pécs, a city near Hungary’s border with Croatia, have also dropped charges against Géza Buzás-Hábel, who organized a 2025 Pride event.

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Hungary

Hungarian authorities lift Budapest Pride ban

Country’s new government took office last month

Published

6 days ago

on

June 1, 2026

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Budapest Pride participants march over the Erzsebet Bridge in Budapest, Hungary, on June 28, 2025, despite an official ban. The country's new government will allow this year's Budapest Pride march to take place without restrictions. (Courtesy photo)

Hungarian police on May 29 announced they will allow the annual Budapest Pride march to take place.

“The Budapest Metropolitan Police has approved the 2026 Budapest Pride Parade and also has issued restrictive orders in relation to three counter-demonstrations,” a Budapest Metropolitan Police spokesperson told Politico.

Budapest is Hungary’s capital and largest city.

Hungarian lawmakers last year passed a bill that banned Pride events and allowed authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify participants. MPs later amended the Hungarian constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.

More than 100,000 people defied the ban and participated in last year’s Budapest Pride parade. The event became one of the largest protests against then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government since he took office in 2010.

Prime Minister Péter Magyar took office last month after his center-right Tisza party ousted Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition in elections that took place on April 12. The European Union’s top court, the EU Court of Justice, days after Orbán’s ouster struck down Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law that MPs approved in 2021.

The EU on May 29 announced it will release more than €16 billion ($18.59 billion) in funds to Hungary that it withheld while Orbán was in office.

The Budapest Pride march will take place on June 27.

“We will march freely in fresh air for our rights, for the democratic Hungary,” said Budapest Pride on its Facebook page.

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Colombia

Claudia López comes up short in Colombian presidential election

Former Bogotá mayor would have been country’s first lesbian head of government

Published

6 days ago

on

June 1, 2026

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Former Bogotá Mayor Claudia López speaks at the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute's International LGBTQ Leaders Conference in D.C. on Dec. 7, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Former Bogotá Mayor Claudia López on Sunday finished fifth in the first round of Colombia’s presidential election.

López, a centrist who ran as an independent, received 225,517 votes. This figure is .95 percent of the total votes cast.

López was the Colombian capital’s mayor from 2020-2023. She was a member of the Colombian Senate from 2014-2018. López, whose wife is outgoing Colombian Sen. Angélica Lozano, would have become the country’s first female and first lesbian president if she would have won the election.

The LGBTQ+ Victory Institute honored López in D.C. in 2024.

“We need to listen to each other again, we need to have a coffee with each other again, we need to touch each other’s skin,” she told the Washington Blade during an interview. She hadn’t yet declared her candidacy, and did not specifically discuss her plans to run.

Runoff to take place June 21

Abrelardo de la Espriella, a far-right lawyer who has praised U.S. President Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, on Sunday finished first with 43.74 percent of the vote. Senator Iván Cepeda, a member of outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s Historic Pact party, came in second with 40.9 percent of the vote.

Neither men received a majority of votes. A runoff between them will take place on June 21.

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