Idania del Río of Clandestina, a lesbian-run Cuban fashion brand, works at Dacha Beer Garden in Shaw on June 19, 2019. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

The lesbian co-founders of Cuba’s first independent fashion brand visited the U.S. this month amid mounting tensions between their country’s government and the Trump administration.

 

Yariel Valdés González, right, interviews a Mexican migrant at a lesbian-run shelter in Mexicali, Mexico, on Jan. 27, 2019. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

A Tremenda Nota photojournalist and a Washington Blade contributor from Cuba who is seeking asylum in the U.S. contends the conditions in the Louisiana jail in which he is being held amount to human rights violations.

Cuban Assemblyman Luis Ángel Adán Roble, right, speaks at an LGBTQ Victory Institute conference in Bogotá, Colombia, on May 18, 2019. (Photo courtesy of the Victory Institute)

Bogotá, Colombia— A Cuban lawmaker on Saturday suggested independent activists were «paid» to organize an unsanctioned LGBTI+ march that took place in Havana last week.

American Michael Petrelis became the only gay activist who has been banned by the Cuban government from entering the island. Despite his agreement with the Cuban government on several key issues, his work with independent LGBTI+ activists was enough to include him on Cuban authoritiesʼ black list.

The transgender Pride flag, the gay Pride flag and the Cuban flag (left to right) fluttering together at Mi Cayito beach in Havana. (Photo by Yariel Valdés González)

Article 68 has been eliminated in favor of a less specific wording included in Article 82, which leaves open the possibility of legislating and consulting on unions and families in the future.