HERE, QUEER, AND GOING TO CUBA

SAN FRANCISCO-There it is, right after HIV medicines,
condoms, and the usual paper and office supplies on Queers
for Cuba's material aid wish list: drag wear. Drag?

Drag shows are making a major comeback in Cuba, says Queers
for Cuba co-founder Sonja de Vries. Once held secretly in
people's homes, they now figure in small-town July 26
celebrations-a clear sign of "gays and lesbian Cubans making
space for themselves," de Vries says. "It's fascinating how
much has changed" since the late 1980s when the Cuban
government began re-evaluating its repressive policies, she
adds.

Bay Area-based Queers for Cuba is organizing its second
annual solidarity delegation for an April 28-May 7 trip.
Hosted by the Federation of Cuban Women, group members will
spend May Day in Havana, meet with cultural workers, queer
activists, Santeria practitioners and other Cubans, and
attend an international AIDS conference.

The 10 people committed to go range in age from
twentysomething to over 50, and are diverse in race and
gender; they include a childcare worker, a couple
photographers, and AIDS activists. At News  press time,
there was space for five more people in the group.

Cost of the trip is about $1,000 per person. Several
fundraising events are in the works.

The trip "offers one way to deepen our understanding of gay
liberation," says de Vries, "to see it coming into being in
a revolutionary country."

For info: (415) 995-4678.-Marcy Rein