Cuba’s first transgender athlete shows the progress and challenges faced by LGBTQ people

Associated Press

HAVANA (AP) — Ely Malik Reyes stepped onto the platform and began delivering powerful punches and spectacular flying kicks against his combatant. He lost the fight, but he won a major victory that day by becoming the first transgender athlete to officially compete in a Cuban sports league. Reyes, a 26-year-old transgender man, competed for the first time in the male 60/65-kilogram category of sanda, a demanding contact sport that blends martial arts like kung fu with kickboxing. The milestone marked the latest step toward inclusion for LGBTQ people in Cuba, where much progress has been achieved in the last years for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.