Leonel Linares is a gay Cuban man. He has attended many masses and other church services in his life, but never felt comfortable when he was there. Four years ago, a friend told him about the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) in the city of Matanzas, about 100 kilometres east of Havana, the capital of Cuba.
Today, Linares is a deacon in the Cuban branch of the MCC, an international Protestant denomination that openly welcomes people from the LGBTIQ community, enabling them to find a space to practise their faith and express their identity.
Founded in California in 1968, the MCC expounds a liberal interpretation of Christianity based on respect, love and justice. It encourages its members to further its aims through social activism and a radical approach to inclusion. In Cuba, the MCC welcomes not just the LGBTIQ community but people from other spiritual traditions including Afro-Cuban religions, which are frowned upon in most of the country’s churches.
