Gay Cuban man, transsexual to wed on Fidel's birthday

By Rosa Tania Valdes
HAVANA | Fri Jul 15, 2011 2:26pm EDT

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/15/us-cuba-marriage-idUSTRE76E5EJ20110715

(Reuters) - A Cuban gay rights activist and his transsexual bride plan to marry on former President Fidel Castro's birthday next month in a move aimed at advancing homosexual rights on the communist-ruled Caribbean island.

Wendy Iriepa, 37, who became a woman in Cuba's first state-sanctioned free sex change operation in 2007, and Ignacio Estrada, who is 31 and suffers from AIDS, will tie the knot on August 13, the 85th birthday of the veteran revolutionary.

Estrada said the wedding, which the couple called "a gift" for Castro, would be a first in Cuba's once-persecuted gay and lesbian community which has gained more space in recent years.

Posted on Advocate.com July 18, 2011 02:50:00 PM ET
Trans Woman and Gay Man to Marry on Castro's Birthday
By Diane Anderson-Minshall

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/07/18/Trans_Woman_and_Gay_Man_to_Marry_on_Castro%E2%80%99s_Birthday/

A transgender woman and a self-described gay man plan to marry in Havana, Cuba, on the 85th birthday of former president Fidel Castro. According to the Latin American Herald Tribune, 37-year-old Wendy Iriepa and 31-year-old Ignacio Estrada "will marry in an open ceremony that they hope will mark a before and an after in Cuba, with dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez as matron of honor."

"We met on May 13 of this year and we always intended to get married three months later," Estrada, who considers himself gay but had fallen in love with Iriepa after her transition, told the Tribune.

But the couple also decided to tie the knot on the "controversial" date of August 13 to coincide with Castro's 85th birthday and emphasize the "gigantic" step their union will signify for LGBT Cubans.