Abstract
The Mariel Boatlift is well known for having included an unprecedented number of queer Cuban refugees. But while the stories of gay male Mariel migrants have been widely studied and documented—in part because media at the time sensationalized hypervisible expressions of their sexuality—the stories of the lesbian Mariel migrants prove harder to piece together, as their experiences left few written traces. This exploratory paper begins to fill the gaps by turning to the U.S. lesbian press, one of the only sources at the time to report on lesbian Cuban migrants, albeit through testimonies and reports that are often difficult to corroborate. Using articles and interviews from several activist publications, and critically interrogating their intentions, this paper explores how the criminalization of lesbian sexuality was a prominent motivation for leaving Cuba. So, too, did the lesbian migrants face multiple forms of ostracism once in the United States, and in turn U.S. lesbian organizations stepped up to try to situate and support them by forming networks of solidarity. Far from purporting to answer all questions about the topic, this article suggests that it is ripe for further research.