Cuba Sees Largest LGBT Pride Parade Ever [VIDEO]

From the Washington Blade:

The daughter of Cuban President Raúl Castro on Saturday led in a march in Havana that commemorated the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. Mariela Castro, director of Cuba’s National Center for Sexual Education that is known by the Spanish acronym CENESEX, joined transgender actress Candis Cayne and hundreds of others who marched from the oceanfront promenade at the base of the Hotel Nacional to a nearby pavilion under a scorching sun. Evan Wolfson, founder of Freedom to Marry and Freedom to Work President Tico Almeida were among those who gathered along the march route that went through Havana’s Vedado neighborhood. “The Cuban people are prepared to advance themselves,” Mariela Castro told reporters before the march began.

More from the Miami Herald:

“I’m no expert and am here to learn, listen, and share ideas, including a better understanding of Cuba’s pathway to the freedom to marry,” Wolfson told the Miami Herald on Thursday night from Havana. “Nearly 70% of the people of Latin America now live in a freedom to marry country. The Cuban people deserve no less.”

“Thanks to President Obama, the restoration of relations between the US and Cuba allows people to travel and exchange ideas, and I am thrilled to now be one of them,” said Wolfson, founder of Freedom to Marry. “I eagerly look forward to my first trip to Havana in conjunction with International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia activities this week, including multiple opportunities to meet with and learn from a range of Cuban leaders and advocates, fellow conference attendees, LGBT activists and supporters, and our U.S. Ambassador and the Embassy team. Human rights are universal, and it’s time for the freedom to marry in Cuba and across the Americas.”