37117 Revolutionary and Lesbian:
Negotiating Sexual
Citizenship in Cuba
Hope Bastian Martinez
Cuban. Revolutionary. Lesbian. By proudly claiming these identities,
often seen as contradictory in the society in which she was born, the
life story narrative of Barbara, a 41-year-old black Cuban woman,
makes claims to a coherent social identity which simultaneously chal-
lenges the “broader expectations of power and authority,” while
claiming the values of that revolutionary society as her own (Leap,
2008:287). As Charlotte Linde explains, “narrative is among the most
important social resources for creating and maintaining personal iden-
tity...a significant resource for creating our internal, private sense of
self and is all the more a major source for conveying that self to and
negotiating that self with others”(1993: 98).
The way she speaks, the words she chooses, and the metaphors and
symbols she utilizes to tell her life story as a lesbian woman demon-
strate Barbara’s fluency in revolutionary discourse and strong identifi-
cation with the Revolution. Barbara’s story is not only a story about
Barbara, or a coming out story, but it also offers moral commentary