In this May 15, 2013, Dayan Sanchez, 25, a gay transvestite artist known as “Venus,” poses for a photo before taking the stage at the Fashion Bar Havana, in Havana, Cuba. A week of drag shows, colorful marches and social and cultural events in Havana culminates Friday with celebrations of the International Day Against Homophobia. Gays were persecuted for decades after the 1959 Cuban Revolution, sometimes sent to grueling rural work camps along with others considered socially suspect by the Communist government. But there has been a gradual shift away from macho attitudes, and Fidel Castro himself has publicly regretted the mistreatment of people seen as different. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
