Cuban gay rights activists held an unauthorized independent pride parade in Hava...
HAVANA - Cuban gay rights activists held an unauthorized independent pride parade in Havana on Saturday despite the Communist government warning against it and calling it subversive, an unprecedented show of civil society in the one-party state.
At least three activists were arrested by plainclothes policemen while others were ordered to disperse given the activity did not have an official permit. This was the second march organized independently of state institutions - hitherto a rare occurrence in Cuba - in just over a month, although the previous one, in defense of animal rights, had received a permit from local authorities.
The United States has for decades financed often covert programs to promote democracy on the island and undermine the Communist government. “This isn’t a political march, this is a celebration to give the LGBT community visibility,” said Myrna Rosa Padron Dickson.Activists promoted the march on social networks thanks to the expansion of the internet in Cuba in recent years that has more broadly seen increasing numbers of Cubans mobilize online over certain issues, sometimes apparently managing to influence policy.
The conga in Havana was an exception that became a regular occurrence, and a reminder that the government, which once sent gays to work camps in the early days of Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, had made considerable advances in LGBT rights in recent years.
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