ABSTRACT
Drag is primarily a working-class phenomenon, 'a phenomenon of the disenfranchised', and this is strongly felt in Cuba. Bar de las Estrellas/Bar of the Stars is a drag show venue run by flamboyant entrepreneur Rogelio Conde in a paladar in the Lawton neighborhood of Havana, which has been featuring regular drag-parties since the beginning of the 1990s. In the early days of the Revolution, drag shows were banned in Cuba. According to the Havana-based international press service (IPS) agency reporter Dalia Acosta, 'transvestites and transsexuals have gained a higher social profile in Cuba, or at least in the capital, Havana, since the early 1990s', and drag shows became more popular. Kaminsky claims that 'drag shows reinforce a collective identity among gay men and lesbians'. In the absence of visual gay symbols and role models, and divas, drag queens became symbols and signifiers of gay identity in Cuba.
