Non-heterosexual identities in contemporary Cuban art are being made visible by the latest issue of Extramuros magazine, which was launched on June 27, on the eve of the Gay Pride Day.
The dossier features essays, articles and pictures of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex (LGBTI) community on the island.
Speaking at the ceremony, reporter Marta M. Ramírez highlighted its importance for researchers and community members themselves.
Editor Norge Espinosa recalled that the magazine has for 15 years addressed these issues and published monographs on homosexual writers like José Lezama and Virgilio Piñera.
In mid 2014, Espinosa and Víctor Fowler gave the first Cuban course on LGBTI literature.
Fowler underscored the social need to do justice to a population group that has been discriminated against and harassed since early childhood.
The dossier includes an extract of La Casa Rosada / The Pink House by Miguel A. Fraga, an HIV survivor who advances his life experiences at a sanatorium in Santiago de Las Vegas, where HIV-positive people were forced to stay, back in the 1990s.
It also covers studies on writers like Félix Hangelini and Ofelia Rodríguez, poems by Mae Roque, and some reference to Eduardo Hernández’ work.
Rodríguez describes some of the actions and events having to do with the local ??LGBTI community in the 1791-2013 period.
The latest issue of the magazine also includes an article on writer Eliseo Diego and an interview with plastic artist Vladimir Martínez.
