Cuba will host the 10th International Colloquium on Trans-identities, Gender and Culture in Havana from May 12 to 14, as right-wing governments across the world intensify attacks on LGBTQ+ people and erase hard-won protections. The National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX) and the Network of Trans People, Couples and Families (Transcuba) are calling for papers and participants from academia, activism, research and the broader community.
The colloquium is part of the XIX Cuban Days against Homophobia and Transphobia. Cuba has advanced LGBTQ+ rights through its 2019 constitution and 2022 Family Code — gains built over decades of organized struggle — while the U.S. government has spent the same period stripping protections at every level, from federal policy to military service to school curriculums. The contrast is not incidental. It reflects a deeper divide between a socialist state that treats rights as a social project and an imperialist state that treats them as a political liability.
This year’s theme — “Dialogues from Memory, Activism and Academia to Secure Rights in Times of Global Challenge” — takes direct aim at the convergence of imperialist aggression, humanitarian crisis and coordinated assault on trans and gender-diverse people worldwide. The colloquium explicitly names U.S. aggression against Palestine, Venezuela, Cuba and other sovereign nations as part of the same pattern of domination that drives anti-LGBTQ+ regression. The call for papers is open through April 15. Full details appear below.
The following is the official first call from CENESEX and Transcuba, translated from Spanish.
FIRST CALL
Motto: DIALOGUES FROM MEMORY, ACTIVISM AND ACADEMIA TO SECURE RIGHTS IN TIMES OF GLOBAL CHALLENGE.
The National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX), a specialized institution of the Ministry of Public Health of the Republic of Cuba and a Postgraduate Study Center of the University of Medical Sciences of Havana, together with the Network of Trans People, Couples and Families (Transcuba), invite the academic, research, activist, student and political community and all interested persons to participate in the X International Colloquium on Trans-identities, Gender and Culture. The event will take place in Havana from May 12 to 14, 2026, as part of the XIX Cuban Days against Homophobia and Transphobia.
This 10th meeting takes place in an international context marked by humanitarian crises and setbacks in human rights. The erosion of the international order, resulting from imperialist actions that threaten the sovereignty of nations, along with the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the resurgence of conservative and neo-fascist governments in various regions of the world, has created an adverse global panorama that aggravates the vulnerability of historically discriminated individuals and populations.
We observe with deep concern how imperialist aggressions intensify against sovereign countries, whose self-determination is directly threatened by the geopolitical and economic interests of the United States. Nations such as Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba currently face diverse forms of hostility that are part of the same pattern of domination seeking to subdue the will of independent peoples. This climate of global aggression not only violates international law but also exacerbates conditions of inequality and structural violence, impacting more forcefully on vulnerable communities, including LGBTIQ+ people.
Amidst this complex scenario, the colloquium aims to be an essential forum to analyze the concrete effects of the Constitution of the Republic and the Family Code on the lives of trans and gender-diverse people in Cuba, seven and four years after their approval, respectively. Likewise, given the imminent entry into force of the new Civil Registry Law, the event becomes a strategic space to anticipate debates and contribute to the implementation processes that fully guarantee the right to identity in a world where progress is being systematically challenged.
We recognize that these legal milestones are the direct result of decades of struggle and political participation in an increasingly hostile global environment. Therefore, in this edition we ponder the meaning and place of activism as a force of resistance and creation, formation and conscious participation. To materialize this commitment, the First Workshop “Dialogues of Cuban Trans and Queer Activism: Uniting Voices” will be held for the first time — a space dedicated to the exchange of strategies, training and solidarity-based articulation, reaffirming the indispensable union between theoretical reflection and transformative practice in times of global regression.
The persistence of a patriarchal, heteronormative and colonial order continues to generate exclusions and vulnerabilities that intensify in the current international political climate. Faced with this reality, the colloquium reaffirms itself as an indispensable platform to critically deconstruct visible violence and that subtly rooted in our institutions and cultures, and to forge international alliances of resistance. We call for a multi-sectoral dialogue that, from the ethics of social justice and anti-imperialist solidarity, charts concrete routes to defend and expand human rights, transforming the aspiration for dignity into a daily and permanent experience for all people.
Projections:
- Exchange knowledge, experiences and scientific results on trans and gender-diverse realities from multiple perspectives.
- Encourage constructive dialogue and critical debate between academia, activism and public policies.
- Promote concrete actions for social transformation and strategies for political advocacy to ensure the effective guarantee of rights.
Thematic Axes:
- Theoretical and epistemological discussions around trans-identities and gender dissidence.
- Trans-identities and rights: analysis of political and legislative advances and their concrete implementation.
- Trans-identities, gender and families: dynamics, parenting and support networks.
- Comprehensive health care and psychological well-being of trans people from a depathologizing perspective.
- Trans-identities, media, culture and representation.
- Intersectionality in the trans community: specific challenges of racialized trans people, older adults, migrants, people with disabilities or in situations of poverty.
- Social activism and trans militancy: history, achievements, current strategies and challenges for social integration and political advocacy.
- Trans and gender-diverse resistance in contexts of global regression and humanitarian crises.
Participation Modalities:
Papers, Posters, Workshops
Event Venue:
National Center for Sexual Education (Calle 21 y 10, Vedado, Plaza, Havana)
Invitation Letters
Participants who require an invitation letter to carry out the corresponding procedures may request it from the Organizing Committee at: transidentidades.cenesex@gmail.com. For further information on registration fees, payment methods, hotel offers or other topics, please contact that address.
Abstract Submission Guidelines
Abstracts must be sent to transidentidades.cenesex@gmail.com in a single paragraph of no more than 250 words.
Title: in bold letters
Authors: first and last names, ORCID code and affiliation of each author with a superscript number after the name; list each institution of origin; underline the author presenting the work and provide their email address below.
Abstract structure: background, objectives, results and conclusions.
Deadline for abstract submission: April 15, 2026
Deadline for receipt of full papers: May 6, 2026
Papers will be reviewed by the Scientific Committee, which will decide on their acceptance and presentation modality. This decision will be communicated by email within 72 hours.
Selected papers may be published in the Sexology and Society Journal and in both a printed and digital compilation by CENESEX Editorial.
Characteristics of full papers:
Text document (Word or PDF). Up to 15 pages, including bibliography. Bibliographic references in Vancouver style.
Registration Process and Costs:
Foreign participants: 200 EUR
Cuban participants: 2,000 CUP
Accompanying persons: 100 EUR
Registration payment guarantees participants:
Badge granting access to all working sessions; bag with event stationery and CENESEX Editorial materials; water bottle; welcome cocktail; invitation to the Cuban Gala against Homophobia and Transphobia at the National Theater of Cuba.
Registration payment guarantees accompanying persons:
Welcome cocktail; invitation to the Cuban Gala against Homophobia and Transphobia at the National Theater of Cuba.
CENESEX is supported by the Commercial Company Cuban Medical Services, belonging to the Ministry of Public Health, to manage registration and payment.
To formalize your registration:
- Send an email to ventas.sma@smcsalud.cu to receive instructions on how to pay the registration fee through a secure electronic payment gateway.
- Cuban Medical Services will guide you through the registration process.
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