With Open Heart and Open Arms: LGBTQ Cuban Refugees and the LGBTQ Community’s Response to the Mariel Boatlift

Traveling Exhibition from LGBT Center of Central Pennsylvania

From April through October 1980, approximately 125,000 refugees fled their homes in Cuba and traveled by American ships and boats to Key West in the United States. Among those who left from the Cuban port of Mariel (and thus have become known as Marielitos) were a sizable number of LGBTQ+ Cubans. These new residents of the United States were assisted in their resettlement by dedicated members of the LGBTQ+ community, including many from Pennsylvania who assisted at the resettlement camp in Fort Indiantown Gap in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, or helped those who settled in Pennsylvania.

“Fort Indiantown Gap was one of only a few resettlement processing centers in the country, so many of the refugees came through there,” according to Barry Loveland, exhibit project manager. “And in that population was a significant number of LGBTQ+ Cubans,” Loveland added, “enough that they decided to dedicate two barracks to provide temporary housing for them.”

This traveling exhibit explores the circumstances surrounding the exodus and resettlement, focusing on the personal stories of LGBTQ+ Cuban refugees who have since made their lives in this country. The exhibit commemorates the 40th anniversary of this event through photographs, documents, videos and narrative text (in both Spanish and English).