Communist-ruled Cuba hosts first transgender Mass

Alexya Salvador, a Brazilian trans pastor, holds a leaflet with an image of Jesus Christ during a mass in a church in Matanzas, Cuba, May 5, 2017. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini

MATANZAS, Cuba (Reuters) - For decades belonging to a religion and being anything but heterosexual was stigmatized in Communist-ruled, macho Cuba, making the Mass held by three transgender pastors in the western Cuban city of Matanzas all the more groundbreaking.

Rainbow flags decorated the chapel, while the pastors, who had flown in from Brazil, Canada and the United States, wore stoles in the trans hues of light blue, pink and white and the congregation swayed to Caribbean beats.