U.S. WOMEN AND CUBA COLLABORATION

This report describes two recent events that provided education that is at the heart of the “why?” of our Lesbians and Allies Project. Cuba is a model and source of education for developing laws and strategies to support the mainstreaming and inclusion of all gender identities. The Families Code in Cuba’s Constitution (see description of Cuba’s history of leadership in gender equity including the new Families Code below) protects all Cuban individuals and families to live freely in their gender identities.

 

Cuba has long been a global leader in gender equity:

• Cuba legalized abortion in 1965.  That was 8 years before Roe v Wade in the US in 1973, and 23 years before Canada's equivalent Supreme Court decision.  

• Cuba was the first country in the western hemisphere to allow women control over their own bodies. Within Cuba’s free universally-accessible community-based healthcare system, termination of pregnancy is a medical procedure available to women without restriction. 

• Women who choose to have children are supported in the Cuban system with excellent prenatal care and community support that have reduced Cuba’s infant mortality rates below those of the US.  This difference is even more marked for Black infants.

• Parental leave rights are guaranteed; Cuba meets the UNICEF standards for parental leave.

• In 1979 the UN General Assembly approved the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and Cuba immediately signed (first nation to do so) and ratified this (second nation to do so). The US has not yet ratified CEDAW. 

• Even prior to this, all discrimination against women had been outlawed by the Cuban Constitution.  These protections have only been strengthened and increased in subsequent Cuban constitutions, most recently in 2019.

• Cuba has created and passed by referendum a legal code that includes the protection of the right of all people to form a family without discrimination, that updates the legal definition of family institutions, with inclusive rather than strictly heteronormative models, that establishes the right to a family life free from violence, that treats children as the responsibility of their parents rather than as possessions, and  that centers values of love, affection, solidarity and responsibility.

• The New Families Code in Cuba represents a great achievement for the LGBTQIA2S+ community, because, after a determined campaign of advocacy and education of the leaders as well as of the people of Cuba, and after waging an educational campaign against the religious fundamentalists who were categorically opposed to the new code’s being approved,  over 67% of the people of Cuba voted to approve the new Code in a nationwide referendum.

 

This is why women need solidarity with Cuba: In the US, and in other countries, we have so much to learn from Cuba’s legal and educational approaches to full equity for women across the wide spectrum of gender diversity. In the US, with SCOTUS’ Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, with the success of anti-trans laws and homophobic education policies including banned books, we need strong allyship with Cuba to learn and share strategies for reinstating lost rights and for going on to achieve full equity for gender diversity in the US and around the globe. And Cuba needs us to help change the hateful and unjust US policies that have maintained a 65-year economic blockade that cripples their ability to do trade with the world. Cuba also needs the US to remove their country from the official US list of state sponsors of terrorism, which informally the US has recently acknowledged is based on a lie.

 

Please join our work!

The Lesbians and Allies Project is committed to:

• Continuing to build bridges between LGBTQIA2S+ communities and friends in Cuba and the US 

• Presenting a 2024 Webinar/Film Series (TBA)

• Leading an LGBTQIA2S+ and allies travel delegation to Cuba in 2025

• Returning to CSW69 in 2025 and hosting an Open Forum Platform for discussion and support for organizations working on LGTBQIA2S+ issues in the US and abroad 

 

Report on NGO CSW68, New York

Members of the L&A Project traveled to CSW68 in March of this year, along with other members of the US Women and Cuba Collaboration. The UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) meets annually at the UN as a functional commission of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and it is a powerful global meeting ground for women. This year’s session theme was “Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective.”

 

As the 12 days of NGO events were underway, we attended many sessions but our main focus was participation in the LGBTQIA+ Caucus. This caucus is now renamed the Rainbow Caucus as a result of safety concerns aired during Caucus meetings and other sessions. It was noted that members of the conservative right had been attending some sessions. Women from countries around the world discussed issues affecting them and their lives and fears for safety under oppression. Several women stated that they had never been in the same room with other lesbians; some spoke freely and others spoke with great apprehension about how much this experience of solidarity meant for them. Talks of safety issues and concerns were the predominant issues at the Caucus, both in home communities and at CSW in other LGBTQIA+ sessions. One significant success that developed from this Caucus is that the group came together in solidarity that March afternoon, committed and excited to work together for next year’s 2025 NGO/CSW69. Moon Vazquez is honored to report that she has been asked by the NGO-CSW LGBTQIA+/Rainbow Caucus to co-chair the Caucus’ planning committee for CSW69 in 2025. 

 

A wide range of sessions was offered at NGO CSW68, from topics of gender-based violence to perils for trans-women sex workers. One panelist said ”I left my country of origin to come to the US only to find myself in the same situations. So many of my sisters have been murdered for being trans-women and we are experiencing all forms of discrimination.”  But these women are not willing to be victims and they reported the ways they are organizing and taking their power and moving forward. Another panel spoke about “Empowerment of LGBTQIA+ people: Network for Human Mobility in Latin America y el Caribe.” A panel of Ukrainian women and girls spoke of their plight, the difficult day-to-day life of living under a war, of strengthening the role of women who are now working to reconstruct their country in the absence of so many Ukrainian men lost to war. Other panels included: “Lesbian resistance: socio-economic impact of anti-gender movements on LGBTIA+ communities,” and this session highlighted how increased LGBTIA+-phobic and misogynistic political climates affect the material survival of LGBTIA+ women, noting socio-economic disparities resulting from stigmatized identities. During the panel, “Encoding Gender Equality,” facts were presented about the lack of data studies on women and women’s issues, so that information on women is missing from information bases throughout the world. Other sessions were offered on issues of female sexual mutilation, arranged marriages, the financial economics  of gender disparity, and encouraging grassroots efforts to combat disparity and to advocate for gender equality. 

 

A key event for the Lesbians and Allies Project, an Evening of Culture Rally, took place in solidarity with our Cuban sisters from the Federation of Cuba Women (FMC), educating attendees about the importance of ending the US Blockade against Cuba and of removing Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. Music, food, great company, and serious discussions/remarks filled the hall.

 

CSW68 was emotionally difficult, making us feel and understand in all new ways how threatened women’s issues and rights are throughout our world, including how many rights have regressed everywhere, as we in the US have experienced. We say these words humbly because there are so many women in this world who have never experienced a fraction of the rights and freedom that we have had as US citizens. There is so much work to be done and we have gratitude for all the women we’ve worked with who have prepared us for this work, in Cuba, the US and Canada, with a shout out to Azza Rojbi from Vancouver, BC. Priority work on the table before next year’s CSW is to bring together lesbians and allies from Cuba, the US and Canada to grow our base of workers. 

 

Report on El VII Coloquio Internacional Trans-Identidades, Género y Cultura, La Habana

Following CSW, Moon Vasquez attended this international colloquium with Cuban colleagues in Havana in May of this year. So much of what was learned reflected the lessons of CSW68. A key topic at the Colloquium was the ongoing issue of education about visibility for people of all gender identities, including lesbians and other women. In May, during the months of La Congo in Cuba, Cuban social network groups alongside CENESEX, are freshly committing to continuation of the exchange of scientific knowledge and social activism, and to the development of public policies that guarantee LGBTQIA+ individuals and families the effective exercise of the rights of gender diverse people.

 

Sponsored by Cuba’s CENESEX (Centro Nacional de Educación Sexual), Mariela Castro Espin opened the colloquium by saying: “Debemos amar el trabajo que estamos hacienda sin importer cuál  sea” (We must love the work we are doing no matter what it is). She went on to say that the fight against homophobia, lesbianaphobia, transphobia and all other forms of discrimination is one of the endeavors that the National Center for Sex Education works on at all times, but with greater emphasis during each month of May. Since last year, the motto “love is law” has been adopted by CENESEX to commemorate this fight, and Mariela explained that Cuban LGBTQIA+ revolutionary activism comes from that combination of science and activism, science and commitment. She said “A way is sought to participate, contribute and collaborate with these processes of cultural transformation, which is precisely the main objective of CENESEX, to contribute to the processes of cultural transformation of the socialist transition in Cuba. That is our main purpose.”

 

The colloquium emphasized that structural, symbolic and physical violence against lesbians, gay, bi-sexual, trans people and all people of diverse sexual orientations, identities and gender expressions is a social problem that affects all countries today, as a consequence of a patriarchal and heteronormative system that places these people in a situation of discrimination, exclusion, disadvantage, vulnerability and social segmentation. The fight today must be aimed at preventing, protecting, providing care, repairing damages and promoting public policies aimed at guaranteeing the rights to gender identity and educational, labor and cultural inclusion in the health system, thus achieving the welfare of these people, a life of dignity and freedom from stigmatization. 

 

The TransCuba Network develops activism to promote the rights of trans people, legal support for their work performance and protection, possibilities of legal and psychological support, access to specialized health services, strategies to overcome social and family prejudices, and HIV prevention. This 8th International Colloquium on Trans-Identities, Gender and Culture, which was held as part of the 17th Edition of the Cuban Conference against homophobia and transphobia, was a great success attended by activists from across the provinces of Cuba and other countries of the Caribbean, Latin America, and the world. 

 

Closing notes from Moon:

I have been traveling to Cuba since 2001 and have seen a lot of stages of US-caused economic hardship to Cuban friends. People in Cuba have achieved so much over the years even as they experience horrendous US policies. In this recent trip, I note that Cuban people are suffering like in the days of the dark period, with transportation close to impossible due to shortage of fuel, with store shelves empty of most products, and with the departure of so many young people who have left the island. I saw few people along the Malecon sea wall, where families used to gather in the evening to relax with friends. My heart breaks and I am very angry about US policy that has caused these cruel changes. Please help us work to #LETCUBALIVE. We must end the blockade and remove Cuba from the state sponsors of terrorism list so they can again engage all the globe in trade and business.

 

To join our work: 

lesbiansandallies@gmail.com

 

Lesbians and Allies Project Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/groups/453734399954911/?ref=share&mibextid=KtfRi

 

Lesbians and Allies Project YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnqrjBhSuVxljJbLoVx7gEA