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Rainbow Solidarity in Defense of Cuba
Featuring an insightful look at lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) life in Cuba, this chronicle illuminates the progress the country has made from centuries of backward attitudes and oppression to the current state of enlightenment. From the mores of the Colonial period to the roles that Hollywood, the CIA, and Wall Street played in depicting Cuba as a “police state” for gays and in reinforcing the oppression, this overview provides a backdrop of the past and illustrates the persecution and exploitation originally planted by Spanish colonialism and further cultivated by U.S. capitalism. Details on the gradual transformation follow as the narrative examines the impact of the political and institutional initiatives taken by Fidel Castro and the Cuban leadership to overcome bigotry and prejudice against LGBT people—among them free health care and education, guaranteed jobs and housing, special health care for AIDS victims, and widespread sex education.
150 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
9 people are currently reading
814 people want to read
About the author
Leslie Feinberg
10 books1,000 followersLeslie Feinberg was a transgender activist, speaker, and author. Feinberg was a high ranking member of the Workers World Party and a managing editor of Workers World newspaper.
Feinberg's writings on LGBT history, "Lavender & Red," frequently appeared in the Workers World newspaper. Feinberg's partner was the prominent lesbian poet-activist Minnie Bruce Pratt. Feinberg was also involved in Camp Trans and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Starr King School for the Ministry for transgender and social justice work.
Feinberg's novel Stone Butch Blues, which won the Stonewall Book Award, is a novel based around Jess Goldberg, a transgendered individual growing up in an unaccepting setting. Despite popular belief, the fictional work is not autobiographical. This book is frequently taught at colleges and universities and is widely considered a groundbreaking work about gender.
Leslie Feinberg was Jewish, and was born female. Feinberg preferred the gender-neutral pronouns "hir" and "ze". Feinberg wrote: "I have shaped myself surgically and hormonally twice in my life, and I reserve the right to do it again."
Feinberg's writings on LGBT history, "Lavender & Red," frequently appeared in the Workers World newspaper. Feinberg's partner was the prominent lesbian poet-activist Minnie Bruce Pratt. Feinberg was also involved in Camp Trans and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Starr King School for the Ministry for transgender and social justice work.
Feinberg's novel Stone Butch Blues, which won the Stonewall Book Award, is a novel based around Jess Goldberg, a transgendered individual growing up in an unaccepting setting. Despite popular belief, the fictional work is not autobiographical. This book is frequently taught at colleges and universities and is widely considered a groundbreaking work about gender.
Leslie Feinberg was Jewish, and was born female. Feinberg preferred the gender-neutral pronouns "hir" and "ze". Feinberg wrote: "I have shaped myself surgically and hormonally twice in my life, and I reserve the right to do it again."
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
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December 27, 2018revolution is not a single event. it is a process, filled with contradictions and struggles. rainbow solidarity in defense of cuba completely blows the idea of a repressive, totalitarian cuba out of the water. this book made me tear up at several points because i just kept thinking of what could be. no, life isnt perfect for cubans. but i live in brazil, and i worry about coming out of the closet for fear of violence or abandonment. i cant come out at work. i cant come out to my family. and getting treatment here is a bureaucractic nightmare. yet people have the audacity to tell me that cuba is a homophobic place where gay and trans people are rounded up in concentration camps! if capitalism is freedom for queers then i want to be trapped like cubans are.
anyway, i highly recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about cubas democratic processes. and i also recommend this if youre feeling burnt out dealing with the realities of being queer in a capitalist hellscape. this book feels like a breath of fresh air...and i now know for an absolute fact that liberation is possible.
anyway, i highly recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about cubas democratic processes. and i also recommend this if youre feeling burnt out dealing with the realities of being queer in a capitalist hellscape. this book feels like a breath of fresh air...and i now know for an absolute fact that liberation is possible.
June 25, 2020
absolutely f*cking phenomenal so many questions i had were answered in just over 100 pages. i am full of knowledge 🤓🤪
December 14, 2025
fantastic stuff. was a bit repetitive in places, but it was short and chopped up enough that I didn’t mind
January 3, 2024
A good read, very informative. Feels a bit disorganized, at times, though.
October 6, 2022
Great articles but fairly repetitive. A very inspiring case for how a largely illiterate, Catholic plantation economy emerged from a civil war to become a leader on LGBTQ rights not just in Latin America, but increasingly elsewhere too over the decades. I finished this book the same day that Cuba's new Family Code was codified by referendum in a landslide, implementing the most progressive family law in the world to the massive benefit of queer people among others. Well worth a read.
May 3, 2018
Leslie Feinberg's final work before ze died in 2014 -- an absolutely masterpiece that carefully pulls apart all arguments from gusanos and any other anti-communists claiming that Cuba is "hell" for the LGBTQ community. Leslie uses historical evidence to provide the framework for hir argument that Cuba is undoubtedly the most LGBTQ-friendly place in the world.
October 27, 2020
It’s truly a shame that people in the United States, progressives included, are woefully illiterate on modern Cuba, a nation so close to home. In “Rainbow Solidarity,” Leslie Feinberg offers several essays that debunk reactionary talking points about the Castro regime and the Cuban Revolution, as well as contextualize their few shortcomings within half of a century’s worth of constant siege by the United States. Feinberg’s conclusion is an uncompromising call for working class solidarity across all nations, genders, and sexualities.
(Note: I will be using they/them pronouns for this review to refer to Feinberg, although they liked using pronouns like she/he/zie as well.)
I have to admit, I am quite familiar with Feinberg’s work within the United States’ LGBTQ movement, but never did I expect them to have such an internationally grounded dialectic. Even as someone who reads quite a bit of international history, I was floored by their knowledge on third world history and colonialism, as well as the sharpness of their historical materialist approach to the history of gender and sexuality within Cuba. The essays are backed by anecdotes, empiricism, and a litany of sources - although again, like many fellow Marxists, Feinberg’s limits in their historical approach are ideological rather than deceitful.
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at a few sections where Feinberg mentions Castro’s regrets over the nation’s self-admitted poor treatment of gender-variant people and sexual minorities. I say this not because Castro should be morally condemned in the abstract as uniquely bigoted from every other political leader of his time, but because I know somewhere off in the distance, there’s a smarmy liberal muttering, “the poor dictator.” That said, the sections about Spanish conquistadors castrating suspected homosexual indigenous people and stuffing victims their remains should at least force the said smarmy liberal to question what economic incentives drove these dehumanizing practices and their cultural consequences. If you read this book in good faith and come away thinking Feinberg is engaging in "whataboutism," you're probably a lost cause anyway.
I strongly recommend “Rainbow Solidarity” to both socialists and people fascinated in LGBTQ history outside of an American lens.
(Note: I will be using they/them pronouns for this review to refer to Feinberg, although they liked using pronouns like she/he/zie as well.)
I have to admit, I am quite familiar with Feinberg’s work within the United States’ LGBTQ movement, but never did I expect them to have such an internationally grounded dialectic. Even as someone who reads quite a bit of international history, I was floored by their knowledge on third world history and colonialism, as well as the sharpness of their historical materialist approach to the history of gender and sexuality within Cuba. The essays are backed by anecdotes, empiricism, and a litany of sources - although again, like many fellow Marxists, Feinberg’s limits in their historical approach are ideological rather than deceitful.
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at a few sections where Feinberg mentions Castro’s regrets over the nation’s self-admitted poor treatment of gender-variant people and sexual minorities. I say this not because Castro should be morally condemned in the abstract as uniquely bigoted from every other political leader of his time, but because I know somewhere off in the distance, there’s a smarmy liberal muttering, “the poor dictator.” That said, the sections about Spanish conquistadors castrating suspected homosexual indigenous people and stuffing victims their remains should at least force the said smarmy liberal to question what economic incentives drove these dehumanizing practices and their cultural consequences. If you read this book in good faith and come away thinking Feinberg is engaging in "whataboutism," you're probably a lost cause anyway.
I strongly recommend “Rainbow Solidarity” to both socialists and people fascinated in LGBTQ history outside of an American lens.
October 10, 2020
A fantastic book of punchy articles authored and collated by the author. I won't go into too much detail as there are many fantastic reviews below, but the text traces Cuban LGBT policy since the Revolution, grounding all discussion in Cuban imperial history and the ongoing immiseration caused by the longest trade embargo in history. The descriptions on how the Cuban government prepared for and reacted to the AIDS crisis will concurrently bring a tear to the eye and fill you with rage at how such policies compare to the Reaganite horrors imposed on gay populations in the imperial core. In Australia, gay men cannot give blood within 12 months of sexual activity even to this day. It is despicable that Australia and its neo-colonialist allies continue to denigrate and undermine the great leap forward Cuba has made in the sphere of LGBT policy since the Revolution when, at the material level, LGBT Cubans have far greater freedom and equality than all but the most fortunate gay, lesbian, bi- and trans people in the capitalist world.
April 29, 2020
I don't really know how to grade this because I had so much fun reading it but I think that's just because I have never read something this obviously radical left before. The language is positively inflammatory! And I have understood that this is common in socialist publications.
As for the subject, I like most swedes dont really know that much about cuba other than what American TV shows tell us, and getting facts from an enemy of cuba seems like a good reason to doubt those facts. I don't know if Feinberg is a more reliable source though.
But as I said, i enjoyed this collection of articles and stand flabbergasted at cubas attitudes on sexual education and the treatment of aids patients - flabbergasted as in positively surprised.
It was also interesting to try and put yourself in the shoes of a one party state - a good thought experiment and a very interesting thing to discuss with my book club!
As for the subject, I like most swedes dont really know that much about cuba other than what American TV shows tell us, and getting facts from an enemy of cuba seems like a good reason to doubt those facts. I don't know if Feinberg is a more reliable source though.
But as I said, i enjoyed this collection of articles and stand flabbergasted at cubas attitudes on sexual education and the treatment of aids patients - flabbergasted as in positively surprised.
It was also interesting to try and put yourself in the shoes of a one party state - a good thought experiment and a very interesting thing to discuss with my book club!
September 17, 2020
this is a really incredible collection of case studies showing how the cuban revolution has made material gains for its lgbt community. if you're wondering how a communist revolution goes about ending generations of colonial prejudices, read this. essential reading for any queer communist.
December 12, 2020
great informational source if you want to learn about all the ways Cuba kicks our ass when if comes to human rights, specifically within the LGBT community. and bonus points for the cute little Fidel anecdotes, what a man! queer international solidarity is so beautiful and important!
November 12, 2022
ngl its kinda sad reading this and looking at the modern lgbt+ rights movement in america and its allegiance to homonationalism/pinkwashing. cuba is fr the gold standard for gay/trans liberation under socialism and the new family code is an indication of (continued) movement in the right direction
November 19, 2020
Definitely read this to understand the progress Cuba made and obstacles they had to overcome when dealing with LGBT rights and issues.
August 27, 2022
Definitely from a particular perspective AND well worth reading to get a view of Cuba and the life and experiences of LGBTQ people (and all people, really) on the island. Love Leslie Feinberg. RIP
December 30, 2016
Feinberg really destroys the McCarthyist notion that revolutionary Cuba is/was a dangerous place for LGBT Cubans by first recalling the LGBT history of the region, then the poor treatment of queer people under Spanish colonialism, thus silencing the notion that homophobia of the time period was caused by communism, rather than it (accurately) being instilled due to hundreds of years of colonial occupation. Feinberg then talks about the infamous "reeducation camps" that LGBT Cubans were sent to, how Castro shut down the programmes and self-crit on the issue, and how LGBT rights in Cuba have improved - especially highlighting the AIDS crisis and Cuban medical preparedness (they got ready before the first case of AIDS even hit their country) and community preparedness (calling it an STI spread by and to all instead of "gay cancer"). Special mention to movies and documentaries about queer Cubans that were also mentioned o be vastly popular in the 90s. I'll need to watch them if I can some day. Overall, there is just so much to quote when someone from the US (with its continued existence of conversion therapy and gay sex that was only fully decriminalised in the early 2000s) concern-trolls about how poorly LGBT people were/are treated in revolutionary Cuba.
January 28, 2023
some articles felt repetitive but a fantastic insight on queer life in one of the most important revolutions of the 20th century
July 4, 2016
Since this was a compilation of articles, sometimes it felt like it was repeating points it already made and it didn't go into too much depth/detail. That's fine, since this functions well as a primer and quick summary of LGBT history in Cuba. It's still a worthwhile read, I didn't know the details about the issues in the 60s with UMAP brigades, or the incredible success of how Cuba handled AIDS, which this goes over. to
Worth checking out if you're interested (you should be able to find this or its articles freely online, so go read it!)
Worth checking out if you're interested (you should be able to find this or its articles freely online, so go read it!)
February 6, 2015
Great information but I wanted to know even more about trans people in Cuba. Leslie Feinberg is not the most lyrical writer but ze is passionate and gets hir point across well.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews