Christian Musician Facing Prison for Defying LGBTQ Agenda in Cuba 

HAVANA (ChurchMilitant.com) - Danay Suárez, a popular Cuban Christian hip-hop singer, will face a court in communist Cuba Aug. 21 after defending Christian views regarding abortion, sexuality and marriage.

The 35-year-old Suárez, who has achieved an international following, was accused of hate speech by Alberto Roque Guerra, a Cuban LGBTQ proponent, because she compared pedophilia to homosexuality. On his blog, Roque Guerra declared, "This irresponsible act is a crime that defames and causes moral damage to a collective of persons," about the alleged offense Suárez caused to LGBTQ advocates.

The Cuban singer also caused outrage among abortion proponents when she performed a song at the 2017 Viña del Mar Music Festival in Chile that proclaimed the value of life. While Chile was amid debate over an abortion law, Suárez said that it was a "direct path to murder" and that it was "an open door to the Pit." Upon receiving a music award, Suárez affirmed "There is a spiritual war going on to save Chile."

Over the past year, Suárez had become an evangelical Christian. She has also performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and various venues in Europe.

According to Cubanet, Suárez will face charges outlined in Article 370 of Cuba's criminal code and appear before the People's Provincial Criminal Court of Havana. Cubanet reported that the case has attracted the attention of the Cuban people and celebrities because of heavy fines or worse that Suárez may receive.

The 'Real' Offense: Opposing Communism

While the law provides for a fine in case of conviction, in practice, however, Cuba's communist leaders have imposed more severe sentences in some cases. For example, in the 1960s, when several men had been convicted for trying to escape the island and sentenced to prison, the Cuban government chose to execute some of them by firing squad instead, according to the Virginia-based John Suarez of the Center for a Free Cuba. He is no relation to the singer.

Speaking for the Center, John Suarez told Church Militant that the popular singer has been critical of Cuba's repressive communist government, recording songs that mildly criticize it. In fact, the United States and the EU have condemned Cuba for its dismal human rights record. It is the singer's criticisms of Cuba's repressive regime that have gotten her into trouble, Suarez explained, affirming that Cuba persecutes and locks up anyone who resists the regime.

He said that the Cuban communists at one time had dubbed homosexual behavior as "counterrevolutionary." Suarez recalled that Fidel Castro, the founder of the regime, said in 1965: "We could never come to believe that a homosexual could embody the conditions and requirements of conduct that would enable us to consider him a true revolutionary, a true communist militant."

Spokesman Suarez said, "Homosexuals, evangelical Christians, along with priests and nuns, were often imprisoned and assigned to brutal work camps, dubbed 'Military Units in Support of Production' (UMAP), in the 1960s and 70s."

In recent years, however, Cuban and Latin leftists have changed their tune about homosexuality. While homosexuality was once denounced, it has been more recently embraced by figures such as Mariela Castro, niece of Fidel. She has advocated the LGBTQ cause across Latin America and pushed for "gay pride" marches in the Cuban capital.

However, the Cuban government canceled an official LGBTQ march when some gay advocates began criticizing the regime. In May 2019, Cuban security forces assaulted and beat LGBTQ activists on the streets of Havana who tried to parade on their own.

Suárez on Social Media

On Aug. 10, singer Suárez repeated on Facebook an offending post that had appeared elsewhere on social media. Conceived as a letter to "my generation, in June 2020 while pedophilia is still frowned upon," it denounced homosexuality, same-sex "marriage" and abortion.

She asked:

To you, who are scandalized by the new gender "MAP" (people who are sexually attracted to children) but support the LGTBI ideology, feminism and abortion, have you already realized the incongruity of your ideas? Or do you just repeat — without the slightest criticism or analysis — everything that the media and the world ideological agenda have long wanted you to believe?

You criticize your parents and grandparents, and those of us who are against everything that opposes God's perfect design for the family, the only firm foundation that is capable of solidly supporting society. You call us retrograde and homophobic, because our ideas are "from bygone times." ... By your own reasoning, if two people "love" each other, why does pedophilia cause you so much disgust? ... Let them be happy. Love is love, right?

She noted that "the masses are so manipulatable, that only one generation is enough to turn values 180 degrees and make entire societies call the bad good, and the good bad," and pointed out the slippery slope the LGBTQ agenda is driving, saying "You said that a homosexual could not control his desires. Now the pedophile will argue the same. Are you going to discriminate? Are you going to deprive him of loving and being happy?"

Facing not only the coming trial but also criticism on social media, Suárez issued a video denying that she is a homophobe or peddling pedophilia. Referring to her Facebook statement, she said, "This statement doesn't condemn anyone for their condition or status. This declaration exposes the fallibility of the ideologies that are behind every condition or state of a person when these contradict God's teachings."

The purpose of the statement, she said, is to warn against any assertion by pedophiles that "love is love," as do the proponents of other sexual perversions. Suárez said there are huge amounts of money invested in perversions.

She added, "This vacuum and lack of love we are living in today does not accept people. It is more than ideas: It has to do with the heart of each person." It is the agenda of the "new world order," she said, to promote a world that is "without hope and far from God."

Attack on Christianity

Evangelical pastor Mario Félix Lleonart, a Cuban émigré who was once imprisoned in Cuba for his faith, told Church Militant that Suárez's trial is part of the communist persecution of Catholics and Christians unaffiliated with the government.

"No one in Cuba has ever been taken to trial before for opinions about sexual relations or transgender ideology. But it is the communist system that should be put on trial for its history of extreme homophobia and for putting homosexuals in concentration camps with political and religious dissidents," Lleonart said.