“Before leaving Cuba, my dream was a better life…accepted into society, and have my

rights,” says Céline Rodriguez Cairo (38), a transgender Cuban refugee currently living in Paris. She says that in Cuba she was fined, arrested and beaten because of her gender identity, that “people yelled at me, threw stones at me.” And that “every day I felt more that my life had no future.” In 2018 she flew to Paris. “It was like being born again,” she says of the moment she learned her asylum application had been approved. “I felt that I could take root here in France, and that… they were going to accept me.” Despite initial optimism, she says discrimination in the job market affected her mental health, and she began suffering from agoraphobic spells. Eventually, however, she found a job cleaning houses, and is now involved in several activist organizations. “My life will continue with my fight against discrimination,” she says. “I’m strong because, I’ve been through a lot of things.” Full Story

“Before leaving Cuba, my dream was a better life…accepted into society, and have my

rights,” says Céline Rodriguez Cairo (38), a transgender Cuban refugee currently living in Paris. She says that in Cuba she was fined, arrested and beaten because of her gender identity, that “people yelled at me, threw stones at me.” And that “every day I felt more that my life had no future.” In 2018 she flew to Paris. “It was like being born again,” she says of the moment she learned her asylum application had been approved. “I felt that I could take root here in France, and that… they were going to accept me.” Despite initial optimism, she says discrimination in the job market affected her mental health, and she began suffering from agoraphobic spells. Eventually, however, she found a job cleaning houses, and is now involved in several activist organizations. “My life will continue with my fight against discrimination,” she says. “I’m strong because, I’ve been through a lot of things.” Full Story