The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington DC are swapping their tuxedos for linen shirts and khakis for a tour in Cuba, where they hope to break down language, political and cultural barriers with music – and promote LGBT rights.

Twenty members of the 300-person choir are traveling to Havana on Saturday for a tour that will take them to a city library, youth centers and a retirement home in the countryside. “What I’m excited about is going down and getting past the politics to the people: person-to-person, American to Cuban, having a conversation about music, about LGBT issues,” said the chorus’ artistic director Thea Kano.

Cuba, like the US, has become more friendly to LGBT citizens in the past decade, though discrimination is still a pressing issue. The government offers gender reassignment surgery and treatments for transgender people, but has not made same-sex marriage legal.

Despite this, Mariela Castro, the daughter of Cuban president Raúl Castro, led a blessing ceremony for same-sex couples in May during the country’s eighth annual March Against Homophobia and Transphobia.

Mariela Castro, daughter of Cuba’s President Raúl Castro, in Havana in 2008. Photograph: Javier Galeano/AP

The trip comes as relations between Cuba and the US continue to thaw. In December, US president Barack Obama announced plans to normalize relations .

Kano said the chorus members see themselves as American ambassadors who can contribute to this process by supporting LGBT equality on the ground and bringing people together with music. If the chorus does end up interacting with people who oppose LGBT rights, they hope the same tactics that win over conservative US audiences will work there. “Music has been a vehicle to get a message through when words fail,” Kano said.

The nonprofit Youth For Understanding USA (YFU) approached the chorus about touring in Cuba as part of its first adult-exchange program. The trip was further supported by Mariela Castro, who heads the National Center for Sex Education, and invited the Washington chorus to perform with Cuba’s newly formed gay chorus, Mano a Mano.

On the first day of the trip, the chorus will meet with Mano a Mano, a five-man ensemble. The two groups have been corresponding ahead of the trip, with Mano a Mano recording its Spanish rendition the Washington DC chorus’ theme Make Them Hear You. As the groups are planning to perform in both languages together, Mano a Mano also sent a copy of a performance of the theme in English, something that Kano said is indicative of how they hope music can cut through the divisions between US and Cuba relations.

Kano said that along with texting each other about how to pack for the tropical heat, the group has been discussing what they want to accomplish from the trip and their hopes and fears about a country that has been closed to nearly all US citizens since the embargo became official in 1962. “I want to make sure that I don’t miss an opportunity to speak my truth, how I feel about equality,” said Kano, who admitted that she doesn’t know a lot about what life is like for an LGBT Cuban. “I want to be sure I don’t miss the opportunity to listen, to hear from a Cuban friend that I meet, to talk about his or her experience.”

Kano said that while she has been trying to research Cuba in between rehearsals and more practical trip considerations, the group knows very little about what life is like for an LGBT Cuban.