CUBA
Struggle Against
Homophobia Takes to the Streets
By Dalia Acosta
HAVANA (IPS) - "Governments cannot
wait for a social consensus in order to
guarantee respect for people's rights,"
Mariela Castro, head of Cuba's National
Centre for Sex Education (CENESEX), told
IPS on the occasion of the International
Day against Homophobia and Transphobia
in Cuba Monday.
State institutions, non-governmental and
religious organisations, academics,
artists and above all gays, lesbians,
bisexuals, transvestites and
transsexuals marked the Day Against
Homophobia with a full two weeks of
activism, celebrations, workshops,
demands for full respect for sexual
diversity, a street procession of conga
dancers and bands in central Havana, and
an ecumenical celebration in defence of
the Christian principle of
non-discrimination.
Since 2004, CENESEX has been working
with the Federation of Cuban Women to
push for legal initiatives in favour of
sexual diversity.
In 2008, a Public Health Ministry
resolution established the creation of a
centre that carries out free gender
reassignment surgery and provides
integral health care for transsexuals --
a major achievement for CENESEX, which
is led by President Raúl Castro's
daughter.
But the government institution as well
as gay rights activists and others in
Cuba are still waiting for a legal
reform that would guarantee equal rights
to both heterosexual and same-sex
couples.
The initiative -- which is not calling
for gay marriage, something that would
require a constitutional amendment --
would recognise same-sex civil unions,
would require families to be responsible
for their children regardless of their
sexual orientation or gender identity,
and would include a specific law to
guarantee the rights of transvestites
and transsexuals.
"Silence on these issues is one
manifestation of homophobia. It's bad
for the nation that the media turn their
backs on this social reality that cannot
be hidden," journalist Francisco
Rodríguez Cruz, who describes himself as
"gay, communist and atheist," wrote in
his blog, "Paquito el de Cuba".
The expanding struggle
The cultural institution "El Mejunje",
which has served as a unique gay oasis
in Cuba for 25 years, held a huge street
party Monday in the city of Santa Clara,
275 km east of Havana.
As the site selected for the central
celebrations to mark the Day Against
Homophobia in Cuba, "El Mejunje" began
its schedule of activities on May 8.
And next week, a cooking show starring a
transsexual will be broadcast on Cuban
television.
"We can't just limit our fight against
homophobia to within the four walls of
El Mejunje," Ramón Silverio, the founder
of the centre, remarked to IPS. "That's
why we are taking it outside this year,
to the streets."
According to sources at CENESEX, a
similar cultural centre may be opened in
Havana.
The lack of gay spaces and the apparent
contradiction between the need for
specific gathering spots and how to
avoid the emergence of "ghettoes" that
instead of being inclusive end up
reinforcing the exclusion of certain
groups were at the centre of a debate
held Friday, May 14 at the Union of
Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC).
The possibility of establishing an LGBT
(lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender)
organisation -- or a group representing
any of these specific minorities -- in
Cuba was also discussed in the light of
failed experiences in past years of some
isolated associations that received
support from foreign governments and ran
up against resistance from the Cuban
government.
Mariela Castro, who has no doubt that an
organisation of this kind will emerge
when "convincing proposals" are set
forth, said they are working to help
train activists in the LGBT community,
as in the case of the more than 500
trans persons who have taken different
courses organised by CENESEX around the
country.
There are also three groups of lesbians
and bisexuals working in cities in the
western, central and eastern regions of
Cuba, while thousands of activists,
mainly gay men, are volunteers in a
health promotion and prevention project
among men who have sex with men.
Time for the leap
Many people who belong to UNEAC believe
it is time to make "the big leap." If
the first phase of the struggle managed
to "put the queens up on the stage" -- a
reference to trans people -- it is now
time to put an end to police harassment
of people with a different sexual
orientation or gender identity, they
argue.
The report on State-Sponsored Homophobia
2010, published this month by the
International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA),
includes Cuba in the category of
countries where same sex activity
between consenting adults is legal.
According to the survey, homosexuality
is illegal in 76 countries, and is
punishable by death in Saudi Arabia,
Sudan, Yemen, Mauritania, 12 states in
northern Nigeria and several states in
southern Somalia.
Although no one in Cuba can be arrested
or tried for their sexual orientation or
gender identity, "harassment by some
police of LGBT people in their gathering
places is still happening," lamented
Alberto Roque with the Cuban
Multidisciplinary Society for the Study
of Sexuality (SOCUMES).
Speaking on a panel on family and
society at the UNEAC conference on
Saturday, Roque proposed a plan for
sexual diversity training for the
police, and pointed out that "the
inclusion of these issues in curricula
at every level of education is still
pending."
After stressing that passing laws to
protect the most vulnerable groups "is
an act of justice that brooks no delay,"
the SOCUMES activist, who works closely
with CENESEX, noted that any person can
be "an agent of cultural and social
change in terms of breaking down
homophobia, machismo and patriarchal
power." |
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