Minority Report: Cuban Gays in the International Media

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/intejcubastud.9.1.0117
• Pages: 117-126
• Published date: 01 April 2017
• Date: 01 April 2017
• Author: Emily J. Kirk
• Subject Matter: media,Mariela Castro Espín,CENESEX,LGBT,sexual diversity

IJCS Produced and distributed by Pluto Journals www.plutojournals.com/ijcs/

ARTICLE

MINORITY REPORT: CUBAN GAYS

IN THE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Emily J. Kirk

Dalhousie University, Canada

Abstract

Revolutionary Cuba has been a fixture in the international media for decades. Topics

that made headlines around the globe have included Fidel Castro’s death, US–Cuba

relations, visits to Havana by the Pope, Cuba’s international medical missions, and

economic changes under Raúl Castro. One topic, however, which has been crucial to

human development in contemporary Cuba, has received comparatively little media

attention – sexual diversity (LGBT) rights. This study examines articles that focus on

sexual diversity rights published from among the most popular news outlets of the

United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada. Two fundamental questions are

addressed: what is the international media’s perception of sexual diversity rights in

Cuba? And what does this suggest about the overall understanding of the Revolution?

Keywords: media, Mariela Castro Espín, CENESEX, LGBT, sexual diversity

All media exists to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary values.

– Marshall McLuhan (1964)

Revolutionary Cuba has been a fixture in the international media for decades.

Topics that made headlines around the globe have included Fidel Castro’s death,

US–Cuba relations, visits to Havana by the Pope, Cuba’s international medical

missions, and economic changes under Raúl Castro. One topic, however, which

has been crucial to human development in contemporary Cuba, has received

comparatively little media attention – sexual diversity1 (LGBT) rights.