Historic film showing: ¡QUBA!

Pride At Work invites our labor family to a historic film showing of ¡QUBA!, directed and produced by Kim Anno, which documents the decades-long struggle for LGBTQ equality in Cuba

The following is from Pride At Work Seattle Chapter:

SEATTLE, WA (January 9, 2026) — In a 2022 referendum, Cuba passed a historic new Family Code which not only legalized same-sex marriage, but also other forms of non-traditional relations, and strengthened protections for children, seniors, people living with disabilities, and transgender people.

Of course, reforms on such a monumental scale didn’t come out of nowhere. In the early days of the Cuban revolution, the new government associated the LGBTQ community with the Mafia-run sex clubs that flourished in pre-revolutionary Havana. LGBTQ Cubans were often sent to “re-education camps” similar to “reparative therapy” centers in the US.

But LGBTQ activists did not give up their struggle, and ¡QUBA! documents that decades-long struggle and the activists who turned a revolution within the revolution into reality.

At its heart are two iconic trailblazers: Adela Hernández, Cuba’s first openly transgender elected official, whose quiet perseverance broke barriers in rural Caibarién, and Ramón Silverio, the subversive theater director who transformed his cultural hub, El Mejunje, into a sanctuary for queer art and resistance.

Their legacy fuels a new generation of firebrands. In Santiago, the lesbian collective Las Isabelas —Maritza, Ana, and Isel—combat machismo with radical visibility, conducting educational campaigns to empower women and girls.

¡Quba! captures a paradox shattered: in a nation that had overturned capitalism but still wrestled with patriarchal traditions, the people themselves became the vanguard. This victory—won through art, organizing, and unapologetic joy—proves that revolution is never finished. From Adela’s trailblazing resilience to Ramón’s artistic insurgency and the bold fury of Las Isabelas, the film is a testament to love’s power to rewrite history.

¡QUBA! will be screened in several venues in the Greater Seattle area:

• At the Roxy Theatre, 270 4th Street, Bremerton, 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 11.
• At the Washington State Labor Council offices, 321 16th Avenue S, Seattle, 6:00 p.m. on Monday, January 12.
• At Seattle Central College, 1701 Broadway, Seattle, 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 13.
• At the University of Washington, Thompson Hall Room 101, 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 13.