Castro's niece behind revolution in sexual politics

[IndianaGreen]

Castro's niece behind revolution in sexual politics

Mariela Castro wants macho society's attitudes, policies to change

Thursday, June 29, 2006; Posted: 4:59 p.m. EDT (20:59 GMT)

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Mariela Castro is leading a Cuban revolution less well-known than her Uncle Fidel's -- one in favor of sexual tolerance within the island's macho society.

Castro, 43, is leading the charge from her government-funded National Center for Sex Education, based in an old Havana mansion.

As director of the group, she promoted a soap opera that scandalized many Cubans in March by sympathetically depicting bisexuality. The controversial show depicted, among other story lines, the life of a construction worker who leaves his wife and children for the man next door.

Now President Castro's niece is pushing for passage of a law that would give transsexuals free sex-change operations and hormonal therapy in addition to granting them new identification documents with their changed gender.

A draft bill was presented to parliament last year and was well-received, she said. It is expected to come up for a vote in December.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/06/29/cuba.sex.reut/index.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. This is a fascinating bit of news. My gosh. Made a copy of it immediately.

It goes to show you how very much we don't know about that country, or any other, for that matter. All we usually hear about these guys is what our propagandists tell us. That's the advantage of making a country off limits to one's own citizens. You can tell them anything, and the real idiots among them will buy it, since they have absolutely no information at all about it to use as a foundation for understanding.

From the article:

If approved, it would make Cuba the most liberal nation in Latin America on gender issues.
(snip)

Castro says her goal is to bring the revolution her uncle and her father, Defense Minister Raul Castro, fought 47 years ago to the terrain of sexuality. Her group has also campaigned for better AIDS prevention as well as acceptance of homosexuality, bisexuality and transvestites.

"I want to bring the revolution's humanity to those aspects of life that it hasn't reached because of old prejudices," she told Reuters.

Much has changed, she says, since the 1960s when homosexuals were sent to work camps, or the 1970s when gay men and women were denied certain jobs as "ideological deviants."

"None of that exists anymore," she said. "But that is not to say the same for homophobic attitudes."
(snip)

Now THIS is progress, I.G.

[IndianaGreen]

2. Cuba is ahead of the US when it comes to LGBT rights

and that's despite the traditional machismo and patriarchy that is so prevalent in Latin America. Cuban women have held high positions in the government and Communist Party since the advent of the Revolution.

[megatherium]

11. Are you sure about that?

According to the World Policy Institute Project for Global Democracy and Human Rights report Sexual Orientation and Human Rights in the Americas, Cuba does not allow independent gay organizations or gay rights parades. This was written in 2003. Also, the Wikipedia page on gay rights in Cuba say that marrriage is still only heterosexual in Cuba. (The US now has same-sex marriage, at least in Massachusetts.) Have conditions there improved in the last three years?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_rights_in_Cuba

http://worldpolicy.org/globalrights/sexorient/sexorient.html
(see link to World Policy report, in the middle of the page)

[Mika]

12. Wikipedia isn't a reliable source for Cuba info

War of words: website can't define Cuba
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/14485633.htm


Cuba entry in Wikipedia stirs controversy
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14481721.htm


The Miami Herald needs a registration. If you need one go to www.bugmenot.com

[megatherium]

14. Is the World Policy Institute a reliable source of information

about Cuba? (I don't really know who they are, but they seem pretty mellow on gay issues, to judge by the page I linked.)

[The Brethren]

3. other countries keep moving ahead of us

in so many ways including fighting for accurate voting systems as well as equality.

"If approved, it would make Cuba the most liberal nation in Latin America on gender issues." And we're still battling over whether gay couples should be able to legally marry and share legal contracts.

Good luck to Mariela Castro.

[IndianaGreen]

4. You do realize that if the Miami Cubans were to be put in power in Cuba

that they would immediately make abortion illegal and homosexuality a crime, not to mention that would privatize health care and they would sell beach front property to large hotel chains and casinos. Havana will once again become a mecca for horny American tourists!

[BayCityProgressive]

5. wow I am glad to hear this

I am also glad that it talks about needing a vote in parliament. Many people think Castro alone calls all of the shots.

[Hardrada]

7. Instead of just horny Canadians!!

[WindRavenX]

6. What a wonderful, progressive response

Now President Castro's niece is pushing for passage of a law that would give transsexuals free sex-change operations and hormonal therapy in addition to granting them new identification documents with their changed gender.

Sweet :thumbsup:

[Judi Lynn]

8. Mariela Castro Espín is mentioned in an article about the Cuban gay themed

soap opera, which was mentioned in the original post. This television breakthrough was discussed earlier this month here:

Cuban Soap Opera Sparks Debate
By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press Writer

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

(06-14) 13:46 PDT HAVANA, Cuba (AP) --

~snip~
Once persecuted, then excluded, and finally tolerated, Cuban homosexuals have seen the debate on sexual diversity expand in recent weeks as a state-sponsored soap opera featuring some gay characters has riveted the nation.

In a recent episode of "La Cara Oculta de la Luna," or the "Dark Side of the Moon," Yasel, who is married and the father of a little girl, is as surprised as viewers are to discover he is physically attracted to another man, named Mario.

The attraction leads to a sexual relationship and Yasel's subsequent contraction of the HIV virus that causes AIDS.

The series on state television is intended to educate Cubans about AIDS by telling the stories of those with the virus.

But it also has sparked a more open debate about homosexuality in a society where macho attitudes persist. And while some Cubans have welcomed the debate, others have been offended, questioning why such subject matter is even discussed on "revolutionary" state television.

"From now on, these themes will have to be discussed with more frankness," said Fredy Dominguez, script writer for the telenovela that has sparked discussions among Cubans of all ages and walks of life.
(snip)

More at link:


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/06/14/entertainment/e134609D67.DTL

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EDIT: COPYRIGHT. PLEASE POST ONLY 4 OR 5
PARAGRAPHS FROM THE COPYRIGHTED NEWS SOURCE
PER DU RULES.

Mariela Castro Espín

[Judi Lynn]

9. Funny calling her "Castro's neice!" She's also "Castro's daughter,"

and, last but not least, she's also "Castro!" :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

[Vidar]

10. Cuba goes forward, while Bush, geograpically challenged, tries to

repeal the Magna Carta.

[Judi Lynn]

13. Interesting LTTE concerning Mariela Castro Espín:

Cuba and homosexuals I
While Michael Schembri's historical assessment of Cuba's gay history (Write On, GLW #575) is correct and he is right about the 1990s closure of gay venues (one or two bars now serve the gay community, but are not openly identified as “gay” — just have principally gay patrons) as well as the “voluntary” suppression of gay/lesbian groups such as GALES, I think it is unfair to harp on the “right to organise” issue.

Has it occurred to anyone that it is precisely because life as a gay/lesbian in Cuba is not particularly difficult that there is no great energy by the gay community toward organising? This is not to say that the need does not exist. It's just that people live their lives here with little or no prejudice to deal with — at least from an official standpoint.

The occasional injustice will draw the ire of the community (a rabid article in the Tribuna de la Habana a couple of years ago attacking transvestites, for instance) but as there is no policy of oppression there is no ongoing resistance.

I agree with what Mariela Castro Espin has to say in the GLW {#573} article that drew this new correspondence on gay issues in Cuba: “I think gays and lesbians should try a strategy of greater integration into social spaces rather than organise, because if they `organise', this could bring about a period of self-segregation, of isolation, and not greater social inclusion and a naturalisation of their sexual orientation in Cuban society.”

I enjoy living with Cubans and integrating into every aspect of their culture. Many of my closest friends, for instance, are strong heterosexual-identifying rappers who — by befriending people such as myself — have opened up to the gay community in a manner that is totally incongruous with many rappers elsewhere in the world (at least, if their lyrics are anything to go by).

Cuba (with Australia and most of the world) has a long way to go in the matter of gay/lesbian rights, but let us not destroy what has been gained by attempting to radicalise, ghettoise and telling the gay community here what is good for it. Leave it to the Cubans to sort out their own future at their own speed. They've been pretty good at it in the past.

Simon Wollers
Havana, Cuba

http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/576/576p8.htm