In an 31 August interview with the Mexican newspaper La Jornada, Fidel Castro accepted responsibility for Cuba's persecution of homosexuals decades ago.
From 1959, when the previous government was overthrown in an armed rebellion, until the 1970s, gays were branded counterrevolutionaries and forced into labour camps.
"Those were moments of great injustice," Castro told La Jornada. "A great injustice! ... If anyone is responsible, I am.
"It's a given that at that time, I couldn't occupy myself with this matter. I found myself immersed primarily in the October Crisis [Cuban missile crisis], the war, political questions [but] I'm not going to toss the blame on others."
These days, Cuba stages official public LGBT events.
On 15 May, hundreds of LGBT people marched in Havana's Vedado nightlife district in advance of the May 17 International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. They were led by President Raúl Castro's daughter Mariela, who heads CENESEX, the National Sex Education Center.
Other IDAHO events included workshops on LGBT issues and a huge, officially sanctioned outdoor drag show on 17 May in the city of Santa Clara, 160 miles (258 km) east of Havana.