[17] The homosexual culture was purely recognized as an economic strategy where the Underworld fostered a sense of reliance on homoerotic desires by US tourists and other niche interests that the community took part in.

[21] Accordingly, the Revolution defined a qualified citizen as one who promotes a productive labor force and homosexuality along with prostitution were deemed nonproductive and related to American decadence.

[21] There was even a sign held up on University of Havana's campus saying "no homosexual represents the Revolution, which is a matter of men, fists and not feathers, of courage and not trembling, of certainty and not intrigue, of creative valor and not of sweet surprises.

Gender and sexuality explicitly entered political discourse even as vaguely worded laws increasingly targeted gender-transgressive men who were believed to be homosexual ... whereas lesbianism remained unnamed and invisible.

... Long hair, tight pants, colorful shirts, so-called effeminate mannerisms, "inappropriate clothing," and "extravagant hairstyles" were seen as visible markers of male homosexuality.

"[22]Many of the progressive LGBT persons who remained in Cuba became involved in counter-revolutionary activities, independently or through encouragement of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and were jailed.

The 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, commando attacks from Florida bases, and internal CIA-sponsored subversion created in Cuba an increased concern over national security.

[28] Cuban gay writer Reinaldo Arenas wrote, "[T]he decade of the sixties ... was precisely when all the new laws against homosexuals came into being, when the persecution started and concentration camps were opened, when the sexual act became taboo while the 'new man' was being proclaimed and masculinity was being exalted.

"[32] Many gay artists and intellectuals like Reinaldo Arenas were attracted to the socialist promise of an egalitarian society, which would pave the way for cultural and sexual freedom and social justice.

[33] This period was dramatically documented in the 1980s documentary Improper Conduct, by Reinaldo Arenas in his 1992 autobiography, Before Night Falls, as well as in his fiction, most notably The Color of Summer and Farewell to the Sea.

In a 1993 interview with a former Nicaraguan government official, Tomás Borge, Fidel Castro declared that he opposed policies against LGBT people as he considered homosexuality to be a natural tendency that should be respected.

[23] In the same year, Fidel Castro recanted his previous anti-LGBT sentiment, saying: "I am absolutely opposed to all forms of oppression, contempt, scorn, or discrimination with regard to homosexuals".

[35] According to a Human Rights Watch report, "the government [in 1997] ... heightened harassment of homosexuals, raiding several nightclubs known to have gay clientele and allegedly beating and detaining dozens of patrons.

"[36] Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar was reported to be among several hundred people detained in a raid on Havana's most popular gay discothèque, El Periquiton.

Castro's apparent criticism of Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and his last film Guantanamera during a speech in February 1998 seemed to cast a further chill over Cuba's gay community.

Gay and lesbian film festivals are now run in a number of Cuban cities, and in October 2005, a Sexual Diversity Cinema Week was held in Pinar del Río.

[23] That same year, however, the BBC reported that "Cuban police have once again launched a campaign against homosexuals, specifically directed at travestis (transvestites) whom they are arresting if they are dressed in women's clothing.

"[41] Carlos Sanchez, the male representative of the International Lesbian, Gay, Trans and Intersex Association for the Latin America and Caribbean Region, visited Cuba in 2004.

[43] In 2012, Adela Hernández became the first known transgender person to hold public office in Cuba, winning election as a delegate to the City Council of Caibarien in the central province of Villa Clara.

According to the Miami Herald, this abrupt change was also motivated by increasing resistance to LGBT protections by Christian groups in Cuba, with the government hoping to avoid violent confrontations with more conservative elements.

[47][48][49][50][51] In August 2019, Leandro Rodríguez García, director of the Cuban Foundation for LGBTI Rights, was pulled from the departure lounge at the José Martí International Airport while awaiting a flight to Miami, Florida.

[52] In December, Journalist Maykel González Vivero, director and one of the founders of Tremenda Nota, the Spanish media partner for the Washington Blade, was prohibited from traveling outside the country by the Cuban Interior Ministry.

[76] The Labor Code (Código de Trabajo) does not cover gender identity, and LGBT discrimination in other sectors of society – such as education, housing and public accommodations – is not addressed by the law.

[77] Mariela Castro, director of the National Center for Sex Education, had also sought to ban employment discrimination on the basis of gender identity, HIV status and disability, but this was rejected.

Merely two days after the incident, Cuba's official gazette published a decree outlining that any private business found to discriminate against clients based on their gender or sexual orientation can be fined 1,000 Cuban pesos (around 860 euros/1,000 U.S. dollars) and shut down.

[79] Article 42 reads as follows:[80][81] All people are equal before the law, receive the same protection and treatment from the authorities, and enjoy the same rights, liberties, and opportunities, without any discrimination for reasons of sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ethnic origin, skin color, religious belief, disability, national or territorial origin, or any other personal condition or circumstance that implies a distinction injurious to human dignity.

Mariela Castro Espín describes it: "specialists in the care of transsexual persons, and ... adopted internationally approved diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, which were incorporated as services offered free of charge by the [National Public Health System], along with courses to train sex therapists."

The resolution permitting sex reassignment surgeries consisted of 11 articles that outlined the ways in which the Cuban Government aimed to improve their treatment of the trans community.

[citation needed] In 2013, a week of drag shows, colorful marches, and social and cultural events in Havana culminated with celebrations of the International Day Against Homophobia.

[88][89] In June 2016, Babel, a socio-cultural Cuban LGBT project, declared, "all people are equal in dignity and rights beyond what differentiates us as race, skin color, sex, national origin, political, religious, ideological or sexual preferences, amongst other things"[90][91] General: