CUBA: Government Cancels LGBT Pride Parades

Michael Lavers reports at the Washington Blade:

The organizer of Cuba’s annual International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia marches on Monday announced they have been cancelled. The marches were to have taken place in Havana on May 11 and the city of Camagüey on May 17.

The National Center for Sexual Education, directed by Mariela Castro [photo], the daughter of former Cuban President Raúl Castro who spearheads LGBTI issues on the island, in a statement it posted to its Facebook page said the “current uncertainty the country is experiencing” prompted the decision.

The statement added the country’s Ministry of Public Health that oversees CENESEX directed the events to be cancelled.

In December 2018 same-sex marriage was dropped from the draft version of Cuba’s new constitution. Cuba’s first pride parade was held in 2009. The video below is from last year’s parade.