Coming up this May, visit Cuba for the annual Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia! That’s the Cuban equivalent of a Pride celebration, with various activities scheduled over the span of a couple weeks. Our schedule will coincide with some of the events in Havana. This trip was the brainchild of Brenda Priddy, photographer extraordinaire, Cuba aficionado, and car freak. Cuba has a wealth of classic…

This post is for a group I’m taking to Cuba next month! They wanted some context for the award-winning film Strawberry and Chocolate, a key piece of Cuban film history and gay Cuban history. Strawberry and Chocolate is a movie that examines what it means to be Cuban. It’s basically a challenge to the Revolution’s narrow vision of what it means to be “a good…

On my last trip to Cuba, I had the kind of day that perfectly illustrates the Cuban concept of resolviendo. That is, “resolving,” solving your latest problem in a country where everything is a problem. A friend of mine jokes that resolviendo is such a constant of Cuban life, it’s the second national sport. (after baseball, of course) In this case, the problem was, I…

As you probably know, the U.S. restricts travel to Cuba for all U.S. citizens and residents. But there are certain licenses available, or categories of travel the regulations do permit. Most of these licenses are very limited, available only for professional reasons or to visit any family you have in Cuba. As of June 2019, the one license available to the general public is Support…

Tl/dr: Cuba travel is still legal. My trips are still legal. Some things have changed, and some haven’t. I was traveling earlier this month when, once again, the Trump administration changed the rules on Cuba travel. Cruises to Cuba became illegal overnight. Hundreds of thousands of travelers had their cruises either rerouted to avoid Cuba or cancelled entirely. Voyages to Cuba by private boat or…

A friend of mine asked me to design a program for a Jewish group. With a name like Matt Smith, I may not sound Jewish, but I am… and I’m friendly with Jewish communities across Cuba. So she picked the right person for the job! The idea for this tour isn’t all-Jewish-all-the-time. Rather, they want a general-interest Cuba program that features some visits to Jewish…

Well, I’ve done car trips with Brenda Priddy, and I’ve done LGBT-focused trips without her, but this is a first! Coming up this May 16th, we’ll have a trip focused on Cuba’s classic cars and the national Pride celebration. (The national celebration is not to be confused with Havana Pride, which is earlier in the month and featured in our 2019 Pride trip.) The trip is…

Coming up this May, visit Cuba for the annual Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia! That’s the Cuban equivalent of a Pride celebration, complete with a march/conga, gala, and more.

I had a trip to Cuba last month, and I’m there again now. Things are heating up on the political scene. A bunch of evangelical churches have launched a campaign against marriage equality, and the LGBTIQ community and allies are working to organize support too. I just read a declaration from Cuban anti-racist activists, intellectuals, and projects, supporting marriage equality, criticizing the fundamentalist campaigns that…