For 23-year-old Charlimar it was a dream come true, gyrating like Latin pop star Shakira on an outdoor stage before 2,000 cheering people, in the first government-sanctioned drag show in the communist country.
Organized by the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro, Mariela, the unprecedented show in the central city that revolutionary hero Ernesto “Che” Guevara conquered in 1958, drew stares and stopped traffic last Monday under the watchful gaze of local police.
“I’ve been a drag queen for three-and-a-half years, but it’s hard to believe I’ve been blessed at such a young age when others waited much longer to see their dream come true,” said fashion designer Dayan Marin, better known as the spandex-wearing Charlimar.
PHOTO: AFP
Iroshi Santos, a 22-year-old who goes by stage name Omega, predicted “this show will make history and people will start understanding us.”
The closing attraction of International Day Against Homophobia, the drag show, was a far cry from 1960s and 1970s Cuba, where homosexuals were herded into reeducation camps.
“It’s significant that today we should celebrate peacefully … all of us together spilling our good energy,” said Mariela Castro, director of National Sexual Education Center, which sponsored the event.
The president’s daughter is a fervent supporter of gay marriage and gay adoption. In January, she asked the ruling Communist Party to end gay discrimination within its ranks.
In all, 17 drag queens performed on the outdoor stage outside the “El Mejunje” (The Mix) cultural center, long known as the underground Mecca of Cuba’s transvestites.
Gay pride flags and signs lined the street: “Don’t let prejudice rule you,” “Don’t limit your freedom nor limit anybody else’s freedom,” some of them read.
A huge banner draping the front of a building proclaimed: “Homosexuality is not dangerous; homophobia is.”
“It’s wonderful that we can share the street with everybody … without rejection or discrimination,” said 24-year-old hairdresser Lazaro Diaz, stage name Zulema Anderson, who is “eagerly looking forward” to having a sex-change operation.
The risky procedure has been legal and free of charge in Cuba since 2008, as long as the patient gets the green light from doctors and psychologists.
Ramon Silverio, who founded El Mejunje 26 years ago, was thrilled about the spectacle outside his clubhouse.
“There are people of all ages, all beliefs and orientations. The whole world is here, and that’s really important,” he said.
Not everyone was pleased, however.
“Making this a public spectacle is shameful. This is Che’s city,” said a woman who declined to give her name.
But Carlos, a 47-year-old nurse enjoying the show with his boyfriend of 10 years, Jose, saw nothing wrong.
“I’m gay, but I adore Che and I’m convinced a man like him would have accepted us,” he said.
After seeing his dream come true, Charlimar is now working on another aspiration: Revealing his true sexual preference to his mom.
“It’s my biggest wish, but I know it’ll take time before she understands me,” he said.
Far from the violence ravaging Haiti, a market on the border with the Dominican Republic has maintained a welcome degree of normal everyday life. At the Dajabon border gate, a wave of Haitians press forward, eager to shop at the twice-weekly market about 200km from Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. They are drawn by the market’s offerings — food, clothing, toys and even used appliances — items not always readily available in Haiti. However, with gang violence bad and growing ever worse in Haiti, the Dominican government has reinforced the usual military presence at the border and placed soldiers on alert. While the market continues to
An image of a dancer balancing on the words “China Before Communism” looms over Parisian commuters catching the morning metro, signaling the annual return of Shen Yun, a controversial spectacle of traditional Chinese dance mixed with vehement criticism of Beijing and conservative rhetoric. The Shen Yun Performing Arts company has slipped the beliefs of a spiritual movement called Falun Gong in between its technicolored visuals and leaping dancers since 2006, with advertising for the show so ubiquitous that it has become an Internet meme. Founded in 1992, Falun Gong claims nearly 100 million followers and has been subject to “persistent persecution” in
ONLINE VITRIOL: While Mo Yan faces a lawsuit, bottled water company Nongfu Spring and Tsinghua University are being attacked amid a rise in nationalist fervor At first glance, a Nobel prize winning author, a bottle of green tea and Beijing’s Tsinghua University have little in common, but in recent weeks they have been dubbed by China’s nationalist netizens as the “three new evils” in the fight to defend the country’s valor in cyberspace. Last month, a patriotic blogger called Wu Wanzheng filed a lawsuit against China’s only Nobel prize-winning author, Mo Yan (莫言), accusing him of discrediting the Communist army and glorifying Japanese soldiers in his fictional works set during the Japanese invasion of China. Wu, who posts online under the pseudonym “Truth-Telling Mao Xinghuo,” is seeking
‘SURPRISES’: The militants claim to have successfully tested a missile capable of reaching Mach 8 and vowed to strike ships heading toward the Cape of Good Hope Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim to have a new, hypersonic missile in their arsenal, Russia’s state media reported on Thursday, potentially raising the stakes in their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways against the backdrop of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The report by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited an unidentified official, but provided no evidence for the claim. It comes as Moscow maintains an aggressively counter-Western foreign policy amid its grinding war on Ukraine. However, the Houthis have for weeks hinted about “surprises” they plan for the battles at sea to counter the