Current:Home > ContactCuba’s first transgender athlete shows the progress and challenges faced by LGBTQ people -Momentum Wealth Path
Cuba’s first transgender athlete shows the progress and challenges faced by LGBTQ people
View
Date:2025-04-14 21:43:31
HAVANA (AP) — Ely Malik Reyes stepped onto the cordless platform and began delivering powerful punches and spectacular flying kicks against his combatant. He lost the fight, but won a major victory that day by becoming the first transgender athlete to officially compete in a Cuban sports league.
Reyes, a 26-year-old transgender man, competed for the first time in the male 60/65-kilogram (132/143-pound) category of sanda, a demanding contact sport that blends martial arts like kung fu with kickboxing.
The June 1 milestone marked the latest step toward inclusion in Cuba, one of Latin America’s most progressive countries when it comes to LGBTQ rights. Yet, Reyes himself acknowledges having to overcome challenges, including the lack of medications, a law that sets conditions to change his gender on his ID and the “suspicious looks” he sometimes gets from people in the street.
“Educating society doesn’t happen in two days,” he said.
Reyes, who lives with his girlfriend in a colorful house on the outskirts of Havana, supports himself by repairing air conditioners, as his sanda fights are unpaid. He has been on hormone therapy for two years, but says he does not want full genital reassignment surgery.
His transition has been far from easy.
It began over four years ago when he visited Cuba’s Center for Sexual Education and consulted with a psychologist. He then saw endocrinologists and underwent tests to obtain a “tarjetón,” a special card that allows Cubans to purchase medication at pharmacies, enabling him to get the hormones needed for his transition.
But as Cuba’s economic crisis deepened, medications became scarce so he had to rely on other people who brought testosterone from abroad. While not illegal, the practice can be very expensive. “I’m an athlete; I can’t neglect my hormone treatment. ... I have to stay on top of it,” he said.
Changing his identity in official documents posed yet another challenge. While Reyes was able to legally change his name last year, his ID card still displays an “F” for female. That is because Cuba’s current law requires full genital reassignment surgery for this change — something he does not want to do.
LGTBQ activists in Cuba say a solution could come soon through a new Civil Registry law currently being drafted in the National Assembly that would allow people to change their gender on their ID cards — or eliminate this requirement altogether.
The changes stem from Cuba’s 2019 constitution, which gave way to the 2022 Family Code that allowed same-sex couples to marry and adopt as well as surrogacy pregnancies among other rights. Though approved via referendum by a large majority, the measure faced opposition from evangelical groups and other conservative groups that disagreed with its provisions.
While Reyes’s ID still formally identifies him as female, sports authorities accepted his male status based on his hormone treatments, medical reports and self-identification. This allowed him to compete in the male category of the Cuban Fighters League.
“It’s something new; it’s a challenge that I have embraced with much love,” said Reyes’s coach, Frank Cazón Cárdenas, the president of Cuba’s sanda community who handled the athlete’s registration.
Cazón said he had to work on two fronts to make it happen: discussing Reyes with the other sanda male team members — and securing approval from the powerful Cuban Sports Institute, which ultimately authorized Reyes to participate in the male category.
Cuba’s LGBTQ community celebrated Reyes’s milestone, noting it was the result of a hard-fought battle.
“It was only a matter of time,” said Francisco “Paquito” Rodríguez Cruz, a well-known LGBTQ rights activist in Cuba, referring to the sports institute’s unprecedented greenlight for a transgender athlete to take part in an official competition. “It’s the logical consequence of what has been done in the last 15 or 20 years.”
“It’s obviously a cultural process of change that is still controversial,” Rodríguez said.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
veryGood! (851)
Related
- Woman dies after Singapore family of 3 gets into accident in Taiwan
- First-term Democrat tries to hold on in Washington state district won by Trump in 2020
- Investigation into Ford engine failures ends after more than 2 years; warranties extended
- GOP Reps. Barr and Guthrie seek House chairs with their Kentucky reelection bids
- Paula Abdul settles lawsuit with former 'So You Think You Can Dance' co
- Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul date, time: How to buy Netflix boxing event at AT&T Stadium
- Democrats hope to flip a reliably Republican Louisiana congressional seat with new boundaries
- GOP Reps. Barr and Guthrie seek House chairs with their Kentucky reelection bids
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- America reaches Election Day and a stark choice between Trump and Harris
Ranking
- Former Syrian official arrested in California who oversaw prison charged with torture
- Figures and Dobson are in a heated battle for a redrawn Alabama House district
- Easily find friends this Halloween. Here's how to share your location: Video tutorial.
- Savencia Cheese recalls Brie cheeses sold at Aldi, Market Basket after listeria concerns
- Rams vs. 49ers highlights: LA wins rainy defensive struggle in key divisional game
- South Carolina forward Ashlyn Watkins has charges against her dismissed
- Democrat Matt Meyer and Republican Michael Ramone square off in Delaware’s gubernatorial contest
- US Sen. Tim Kaine fights for a 3rd term in Virginia against GOP challenger Hung Cao
Recommendation
Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
The Nissan Versa is the cheapest new car in America, and it just got more expensive
Figures and Dobson are in a heated battle for a redrawn Alabama House district
GOP senator from North Dakota faces Democratic challenger making her 2nd US Senate bid
Can Bill Belichick turn North Carolina into a winner? At 72, he's chasing one last high
Soccer Player José Hugo de la Cruz Meza Dead at 39 After Being Struck by Lightning During Televised Game
Barry Keoghan Slams Accusations He's a Deadbeat Dad to 2-Year-Old Son Brando
Democrats hope to flip a reliably Republican Louisiana congressional seat with new boundaries