Helping Cubans realize what it means to be gay

Posted on Sun, Jun. 04, 2006

Helping Cubans realize `what it means to be gay'
BY GARY MARX
Chicago Tribune

HAVANA - It was bad enough when Belkis suspected that her husband, a
construction worker and loving father named Yassel, was having an affair
with another woman. Then she learned the truth: Yassel was in love with
another man.

"You're not a man, not a woman, nothing!" Belkis shouted. "I don't want
to see you again!"

The confrontation between Belkis and Yassel was a dramatic high point of
a groundbreaking soap opera titled "The Dark Side of the Moon," which in
recent months has captivated and roiled this intensely macho nation.

While the soap opera's five story lines all focus on HIV infection and
AIDS, Cuban gays describe the second narrative capturing Yassel's sexual
awakening as a pivotal moment in this country's long history of
discrimination against homosexuals.

They say it is the first time Cuba's state-run television has portrayed
homosexuality openly and realistically, let alone during a prime-time
soap opera, a must-see event for many of the island's 11 million residents.

"Ten years ago this would have been impossible," said Daniel Hernandez,
a gay 22-year-old student. "A lot of things have evolved."

Magda Gonzalez, chief of the drama division for the Cuban Institute of
Radio and Television, which oversees the nation's television stations,
said the series has been among the most-watched in Cuban history.
Viewers have responded with a flood of mostly favorable e-mails, she
said, and Yassel's relationship has been grist for radio talk shows and
newspaper articles.

"If you are going to talk about AIDS, then you have to deal with the
theme of sex between men," Gonzalez said.

Not everyone is pleased.

Ramiro Navarro, a 44-year-old security guard from Havana's Regla
neighborhood, said he was glued to the soap opera yet sickened by its
portrayal of a married man involved with a male lover.

"The message of the soap opera is that you should accept people for who
they are," Navarro said. "I don't agree with that. I am against
homosexuality. It's immoral."

But Margarita Parrado, 35, of Havana said the soap opera's message of
tolerance is a step forward for Cuba. "Each person has their own way of
living and you have to respect them," she said. "Homosexuals are human
beings too."

While Cuba's socialist government portrays itself as being dedicated to
equality and justice, its leaders often have displayed little tolerance
for those who do not fit their definition of a proper revolutionary.

During the two decades after Fidel Castro's triumph in 1959, men
sporting long hair, rock musicians and other Cubans deemed anti-social
by Communist Party leaders were ostracized.

Cuban authorities viewed homosexuality as deviant behavior, and openly
gay men and women were barred from top political positions and other
jobs. Some homosexuals were sent to rehabilitation camps.

Official attitudes began to change in the late 1970s, and today Cuban
gays say they suffer far less discrimination. Yet there are no prominent
gay or lesbian organizations in Cuba, and no gay rights movement to
speak of. Homosexuals say they are mostly tolerated rather than accepted.

"This is a macho society where, even now, a gay man hides being with
another gay like me," said Juan Miguel Mas, a 40-year-old dancer.

One of the few places in Cuba where gay men are not afraid to gather is
along a narrow stretch of the Malecon, Havana's sweeping seaside boulevard.

On a recent Saturday evening, dozens of men chatted, flirted and drank
rum and cola from white plastic cups. Two of them kissed as uniformed
police strolled by, checking identification and arresting those
suspected of prostitution.

Perched on the seawall, Oswald Alarcon and several friends said the
portrayal of Yassel's homosexual relationship on television means that
Cuban officialdom, which approves all programming, finally has
acknowledged reality.

Even the award-winning 1993 Cuban film "Strawberry and Chocolate," which
told of the relationship between an intellectual homosexual and a devout
communist, never was broadcast on Cuban television.

"There was never any space in the public discourse (about
homosexuality). It's as if gays didn't exist," explained Alarcon, 26, a
biochemist.

"This is an important step in terms of getting the message about
homosexuality to the people," he said. "We've seen it in movies, but
everyone watches the soap opera. It helps people understand what it
means to be gay."

Alarcon and his friends hope the series will lead to a broader
acceptance. But the circumstances surrounding the telenovela, or soap
opera, show how much ground needs to be covered.

The series is broadcast at 9:30 p.m. so fewer children will watch. The
producers also were careful how they portrayed Yassel's homosexual
relationship. Yassel and his lover, Mario, are never shown kissing,
hugging or holding hands.

"Images are very powerful," said scriptwriter Freddy Dominguez. "There
is a way to get the message across without offending the viewer."

At the same time, the soap opera captured the homophobia that persists
in Cuba and other Latin American nations, with the characters employing
the derogatory word maricon to describe homosexuals.

In one emotional scene, Yassel's mother, Marcia, pleads with her
husband, David, to allow Yassel to live with them after his wife throws
him out.

"This fairy is not my son," responds David, his face twisting in
anguish. "I raised a man, a man. ... Tell him to leave here and go far
away."

But David eventually accepted his son after learning Yassel had been
infected with HIV.

In the end, Yassel also seems at peace with himself. "You don't know
what it's like living with a mask, Belkis," he says to his wife, "trying
to please everyone in the world, repressing your desires and annulling
who you are."

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