Every year, the  International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia is celebrated as the annual landmark for the promotion of sexual and gender diversities.

The National Center for Sexual Education — CENESEX – led by  Mariela Castro, the daughter of former Cuban President Raúl Castro, is coordinating the celebrations, traditionally marked by marches and conferences.

This year, Daniela Vega, the transgender actress who starred in “A Fantastic Woman” will participate in the festivities in Havana and in the city of Pinar del Río, as was announced on CENESEX’ Facebook page

More IDAHOTB news from Camagueys

Lead by the President’s daughter Mariela Castro, the national sexuality education center CENESEX organises the 10^th “Jornadas” against homophobia in Cuba. The program includes a march in the capital La Havana but also various other activities across the country.

Author: Lisandra Fariñas Acosta | lisandra@granma.cu
may 4, 2017 10:05:34
The 10th Cuban Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, which will see a range of activities held in different parts of the island May 3-20, is this year dedicated to the prevention of bullying and harassment in school spaces

Cenesex Director Dr. Mariela Castro Espín speaking during a press conference alongside Chilean transgender actress and singer Daniela Vega. Photo: Alejandro Ernesto/EFE
The 10th Cuban Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, which will see a range of activities held in different parts of the island May 3-20, is this year dedicated to the prevention of bullying and harassment on the basis of sexual and gender identities in school spaces.
Once again, Cuban activities to mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOT, May 17), will be an opportunity for raising awareness and debating the prejudices that persist within society.
Speaking during a press conference, Dr. Mariela Castro Espín, director of the National Center for Sex Education (Cenesex), noted that it is a question of promoting a change of mentality and attitude among people who exclude, reject and isolate those with non-heteronormative sexual orientations or gender identities.
Under the theme: “For Schools without Homophobia and Transphobia: I Include Myself,” this 10th edition of the event will address an issue that has been identified in social, legal and medical sciences research in Cuba. “We are not engaged in this battle because it is a huge problem, but because it is a problem, and therefore it must be made visible. The biggest obstacle is that there is not enough awareness that these issues exist, nor the knowledge to identify at what point this type of phenomena are expressed and their various manifestations, from the most explicit to the most subtle. Today it is a challenge for Cuban institutions to further these types of studies,” the Cenesex director explained.

She highlighted that with the support of the Ministry of Education and different civil society organizations, a broad set of strategies aimed at educating the population, focused on the responsibility of each community and school to tackle discrimination, has been developed.
Dr. Castro Espín stressed that schools “should be one of the safest places, because they are where our children spend the most time. Therefore they must be spaces in which all people feel welcomed, respected, loved and well treated; and where children learn to respect, love, and coexist with people with characteristics different from their own.”
She added that next year’s IDAHOT activities will also focus on school spaces, specifically teacher training schools and careers in education, as one of the identified areas for work within the National Sexual Education and Health Program.
Manuel Vázquez, deputy Cenesex director, noted that the 10th Cuban Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia features a wide and varied program, which includes a large number of academic and cultural activities in the Cuban capital, as well as in Villa Clara, the event’s host province.
He referred to the conferences, workshops and panels to be held, which will address issues related to activism, health and sexual rights in school spaces, among other topics, as well as the photographic exhibitions by Cuban and foreign artists, the presentation of a commemorative seal to mark the 10th edition of the event, the Diversity film festival, and the traditional Gala and Cuban Conga Against Homophobia and Transphobia, among other activities.
Ministry of Education representative Alcides Alejandro Roca Zayas stressed that actions aimed at ensuring healthy, responsible, happy sexual relations and eradicating all types of violence within the country’s over 10,000 educational institutions are a key priority today.
Meanwhile, Chilean transgender actress and singer Daniela Vega stated: “What happens in Cuba is encouraging; that we should have such strong institutional support, the ability to rethink human diversity as something valid and positive. I invite you to continue working for gender equality, to continue working together with honesty and affection, because this is the path we have as human beings to be happier. Rebellion, dignity and freedom: these three things define a human being.”
The 10th Cuban Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia defends the strengthening of values based on the principles of equality and non-discrimination in our society; and is thus oriented toward the entire Cuban population, not the LGBTI community exclusively.

Recent political changes in Cuba have been a significant help to LGBTI and human rights activists working in the country. As the LGBTI community continues to grow more visible so does the range of campaigns and events held in the name of equality.

This year we’re expecting a number of incredible events for IDAHOT 2016, both large and small, and eagerly await news from local activists on the ground.

The most significant of these will take place in Havana and Matanza, where Mariela Castro’s organization CENESEX will hold the “Jornada contra la Homofobia y la Transfobia” for the 9th consecutive year, with a series of events that will take place from May 10th to 21st, ending with the now traditional IDAHOT parade which promises once again to be a huge festive event for both Cuba and the broader region.

For more news on this event please visit this story by Washington Blade.

This year we’re expecting a number of incredible events for IDAHOT 2016, both large and small, and eagerly await news from local activists on the ground.

In Havana, Mariela Castro’s organization CENESEX will hold the “Jornada contra la Homofobia y la Transfobia” for the 9th consecutive year, with a series of events that will take place in different cities in Cuba from May 10th to 21st, ending with the now traditional IDAHOT parade which promises once again to be a huge festive event.

For more information and further updates please look out for our upcoming annual reports!

The VIII “Jornadas” Against Homophobia started on May 5 to Saturday 23. Organized from its first edition in 2007 by the National Center for Sex Education (Cenesex), this year it had for first time the participation of the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (Cuban Workers Union).

The participation of the Cuban Workers Union is in line with the theme of the Cuban “Jornadas” this year: “For more inclusive workplaces” looking to apply the legislation established by the new Labour Code adopted in December 2013. This is the first Cuban law that explicitly protects the rights of non-heterosexual people setting non-discrimination in the workplace.

To see the complete report please visit our report for Cuba in our Spanish Site.

The week-long ceremony started on Saturday May 9th with a symbolic same-sex wedding ceremony headed by President Castro’s daughter Mariela, who has for many years heralded Cuba’s social and political progress on LGBT rights.

This year the National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX), with the support of several institutions, government and civil society have called for the implementation of a program of educational and cultural activities to visualize and combat all types discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The main purpose is to contribute to the education of the whole society, with emphasis on family and youth, in respect to the right to sexual orientation and gender identity as an exercise of equity and social justice.

Activities include book presentations, audiovisual displays, photographic exhibitions, sales of handicrafts and culinary offerings. This year the event’s motto is: “work spaces regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity!”

Cenesex data reports that that over 500 thousand Cubans participated in the 2014 conference in some way. This year organisers are hoping for ever more engagement.

For more information see the program for VIII Day Against Homophobia.

For the last seven years, the celebration of May 17 in Cuba has been organized by the group CENESEX (National Center for Sexual Education). In 2014 as in previous years, events around the IDAHOT spread out into a month of festivities, with countless events taking place and high level public figures participating in the commemorations.

The series of events for 2014 was aimed at promoting and defending people’s rights to be free, and to enjoy their sexual orientation and gender identity. Whilst actions provided a space for art, knowledge exchange and fun, they also constituted a reaffirmation of Cuban sexual and human rights activism.

In the eastern province of Granma, the Cuban Day Against Homophobia 2014 welcomed sexual rights activists who came from different regions of the island, under the slogan: “Home is love, respect, inclusion, family-free of homophobia and transphobia.”

In early May, the VI Regional Conference of the International Lesbian, Gay, Trans and Intersex for Latin America and the Caribbean (ILGALAC) was also held, as a preliminary activity in which the particular realities of life for LGBTI people in different regions of Latin America were presented and discussed by different community participants.

Report also available in Spanish.

A gala against homophobia was held at the Karl Marx theatre. Among the guests this year were international experts such as the British sociologist Jeffrey Weeks and the Mexican sexologist Rinna Riesenfeld. A high profile IDAHO conference was held, as well as a main activity in the province of Ciego de Avila, on May 17 – a large scale demonstration which evidenced the ‘sexual diversity of the island and the wish that more Cubans can freely exercise their sexual orientation or gender identity.’ The year’s commemorations were also marked, on May 14, with a parade though the streets of Havana. Once again Mariela Castro, the daughter of Cuba’s president Raul Castro, led the parade out, and affirmed that more must be done to raise awareness about lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender people.

12 days of activities marked the commemorations in Cuba. In this, Gilberto Diez, right, applies makeup
to Dayan Sanchez, 25, a gay artist known as Venus in preparation for a drag show in Havana, May 15.