Date
June 21 2001

Location

Neighborhood recreation center in San Miguel del Padrón, a working class suburb southeast of Havana

Participants

Michel (17)
Ángel (22)
Juanito (19)
Alejandro (21)

Overview

On June 21 2001 four Cuban men, Michel and Ángel and Juanito and Alejandro, became the first gay couples to hold a public wedding style ceremony in Cuba. Despite same sex marriage being illegal these young men exchanged symbolic vows in front of family and friends. The event drew neighbors onto rooftops for a better view and marked a decisive act of visibility and defiance in a country without any organized gay community or public Pride celebrations.

Background

In the 1960s and early 1970s Cuban authorities treated homosexuality as a threat to the revolution. Gay men were sent to military style work camps and universities and workplaces carried out anti queer witch hunts. Homosexuality was labeled a bourgeois perversion.

By the mid 1970s repression became more targeted. In 1988 Cuban law was softened so that only public manifestation of homosexuality could be punished by three months to one year in jail and a fine for persistent advances.

The early 1990s saw gradual cracks in Cuba’s closet. In 1993 the film Strawberry and Chocolate portrayed gay characters sympathetically and helped thaw public attitudes. That year the government also ended quarantine of HIV positive people. A short lived Cuban Association of Gays and Lesbians formed in 1994 but was suppressed in 1997 along with an emerging gay party scene.

Ceremony Details

The ceremony took place in a modest recreation hall. All four men dressed in white. Ángel and Juanito assumed traditional bride roles complete with veils and curled wigs. After exchanging vows they announced plans for a joint honeymoon at a government run camping site.

Quoted remarks from the day

Michel said What we are doing is daring but I am not afraid

Ángel said People have thrashed us but we do not care

Michel’s mother Luisa said Many people had criticized him He is my son They decided to live together What can I do I am not going to kill him

Rolando a friend said This is historic it has never before been seen in Cuba

Public Reaction

Neighbors climbed onto rooftops to watch the ceremony. Local media coverage by Agence France Presse highlighted the event just hours before Latin America’s largest Pride parade took place in Sao Paulo. An AFP photograph by Adalberto Roque shows Ángel in bridal white preparing for the ceremony in a crowded room filled with onlookers including children.

Significance

Though strictly symbolic this double wedding was a landmark in Cuban queer history. It pierced the invisibility that had kept gay Cubans hidden from public life. The act paved the way for early informal support networks and conversations about LGBTQ rights. Over the following two decades Cuba would move toward decriminalization of same sex relationships and in 2019 legalize same sex marriage.

References and further reading

• Juan Pérez Cabral Gays Wed In Cuba The Second Revolution June 21 2001
• AFP Photo by Adalberto Roque June 8 2001
• Cuba softens laws on homosexuality 1988 legal reform summary
• Strawberry and Chocolate cultural impact studies