LavenderRed_Cubabook

Margarita Gilpin
The documentary ‘Butterflies on the Scaffold’ (Mariposas
en el andamio) takes viewers to La Güinera, a neighborhood
on the outskirts of Havana which has become a
‘cradle of cross-dressing’ in Cuba.
‘Amigas.’
One drag performer said of Fifi, “She opened a cabaret in the workers’ cafeteria and
brought us into it. She made us face the ‘herds’ of public we were afraid to face. She reassured
us. She said, “Do it, face them, you’ll see, nothing will happen.”
Another performer added, “Fifi should be honored by us. She’ll always be close to our
hearts for the wonderful way she treated us.”
‘A right to live as they wish’
This documentary was made during the “special period” in which Cuba had lost virtually
all its trade when the USSR was overturned.
The U.S.-led economic blockade of Cuba also impacts on every aspect of life on the
island: Performers use acetate because eyelash glue is not available. They create eyelashes
out of horse hair or cut from carbon paper. Their nails are glued on with a shoe adhesive.
“Butterflies on the Scaffold” is packed with footage of indoor and outdoor drag performances
in front of an audience of virtually all their co-workers and neighbors, family and
friends. People of all ages attend the drag performances, arriving early for a good seat, or
climbing onto a tree limb for a last-minute seat.
The performers take their bows to cheers and ovations.
A local congressional representative says, “[T]hey’re giving the people something that
others who aren’t like them don’t give.”
A construction worker agreed. “They’re the people who are giving this neighborhood a
new level, a new character. Sometimes there’s nothing to do and no place to go.”
How La Güinera made room for more gender 75