Gays in Cuba seeing progress
Posted on Sun, May. 18, 2008
BY ANDREA RODRIGUEZ
Associated Press
HAVANA --
Cuba's gay community celebrated unprecedented openness -- and
high-ranking political alliances -- with a government-backed campaign
against homophobia on Saturday.
The meeting at a convention center in Havana's Vedado district may have
been the largest gathering of openly gay activists ever on the
communist-run island. President Raúl Castro's daughter Mariela, who has
promoted the rights of sexual minorities, presided.
''This is a very important moment for us, the men and women of Cuba,
because for the first time we can gather in this way and speak
profoundly and with scientific basis about these topics,'' said Castro,
director of Cuba's Center for Sexual Education.
Mariela Castro joined government leaders and hundreds of activists at
the one-day conference for the International Day Against Homophobia that
featured shows, lectures, panel discussions and tests for sexually
transmitted diseases.
Cuban state television gave prime-time play Friday to the U.S. film
BrokebackMountain, about two cowboys who conceal their affair.
Prejudice against homosexuals remains deeply rooted in Cuban society,
but the government has steadily moved away from the Puritanism of the
1960s and 1970s, when homosexuals hid their sexuality for fear of being
ridiculed, fired from work or even imprisoned.
Now Cuba's parliament is studying proposals to legalize same-sex unions
and give gay couples the benefits that people in traditional marriages
enjoy.
Parliament leader Ricardo Alarcón said the government needs to do more
to promote gay rights, but said many Cubans still need to be convinced.
Things ''are advancing, but must continue advancing, and I think we
should do that in a coherent, appropriate and precise way because these
are topics that have been taboo and continue to be for many,'' Alarcón
told reporters.
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