Part One Of A Two-Part Editorial Event!
Cuba's been going through a bit of a political puberty as of late. Last
February, after 49-years in power, long-time leader Fidel Castro stepped
aside and handed the presidency to his brother, Raul. Though still all
in the family, many see Raul's ascension as a positive move for the
island, a sign that the communist government could evolve.
A little over a month later, Mariela Castro, the president's daughter
and leader of the government-backed Center for Sexual Diversity
(CENESEX), took a progressive step when she called on the government to
rewrite the 70s-era Family Code and pave the way for civil unions.
The "revolutionary redefinition" of family, says CENESEX spokesperson
Alberto Roque Guerra, goes straight to epicenter of Cuba's gay problem:
"Family is the core of society. Homophobia and transphobia are first
seen within the family. The fight against homophobia awareness is
focused on the family as the main goal." However true that may be,
Guerra's declaration purposefully ignores decades of state-sanctioned
homophobia. What's more, CENESEX's push for equality eschews the true
goal: assimilation.
The government's modest progress – as well as its dubious explanations –
has as much with political survival and public relations as it does with
cultural evolution. Sifting through the various truths, one finds a
debate shaded by political ideology, Cold War-inspired misconception and
not a small amount of spin.
Fidel Castro, in a 1965 interview, decried the gay threat, telling
American journalist Lee Lockwood, "Young people should not be in the
hands of homosexuals." Though the gays could pledge revolutionary
allegiance, they were not entirely trust worthy:
Nothing prevents a homosexual from professing revolutionary
ideology and, consequently, exhibiting a correct political position… And
yet we would never come to believe that a homosexual could embody the
conditions and requirements of conduct that would enable us to consider
him a true Revolutionary, a true Communist militant. A deviation of that
nature clashes with the concept of what a militant Communist must be.
Thus, in their revolutionary zest, Castro's regime erected reeducation
camps, where dissidents, religious leaders and gays were to be cleansed
of their "anti-social behavior" and trained to serve the revolution. In
2006, while discussing the controversial camps, Castro acknowledged
their existence, but refused to align them with the "supposed
persecution of homosexuals." The "Military Units to Support Production,"
he said, "were not internment units, nor were their punishment units. On
the contrary, it was about morale, to give them a chance to work and
help the country in those difficult circumstances." Though the camps
have since been abolished, the Revolution's quest for integration
remains the same, albeit with some timely adjustments.
To say the Revolution single-handedly created homophobia on the island
would be unfair. There were other force at play, of course, including
Catholicism and, perhaps more importantly, machismo. An idolization of
masculinity, machismo celebrates the strong, virile man. This man flexed
his social muscle, while more effeminate men were made to lurk in the
shadows – or face the consequences. Like the island's fifties-era cars,
machismo still rules Cuba's roads, says Leonardo Chacon, a Cuban AIDS
activist who moved to Miami last year: "Being gay is a signal of
weakness. In our tradition, someone who is gay, we call 'no man.'" And
that "no man" has never been as politically valuable as communism's
so-called "New Man."
Inspired, selfless and, most importantly, obedient, the "new man" lives
the revolution. He's the picture of ideological uniformity. Needless to
say, sexual deviants posed a serious risk to social and political
cohesion, as Cuba's 1971 Education Congress declared, "The social
pathological character of homosexual deviations was recognized It was
resolved that all manifestations of homosexual deviations are to be
firmly rejected and prevented from spreading". The government had to
maintain unity at all costs, and, in addition to the internment camps,
they for years launched repeated raids on queer Cubans, including
arrests, assaults, massive deportations in the 1980s and quarantining
HIV-infected nationals.
Violent and repressive history aside, the Cuban government has made some
relatively modest moves in the decades since the revolution, including
striking down sodomy laws in 1979. (Although, like so many of the
island's other legal movements, however, this one fell short: public
displays of homosexuality - and effeminacy - could still garner prison
time). CENESEX's 1989 founding brought trans rights to the national
stage and the government soon began backing sex-change operations. Then,
in 1992, 21-years after the decriminalization of sodomy, the government
normalized age of consent laws, a symbolic equalization of gay and
straight sex. Two years later Castro would describe homosexuality as
"natural," and this summer the government supported the International
Day Against Homophobia.
Perhaps one of the most culturally influential moments came in 2006,
when Cuba's state-run television began airing The Dark Side of the Moon,
a soap opera about a married man who began dabbling in gay sex. Though a
bonafide hit - or is it "spectacle"? - the Cuban public has been slow to
accept their same-sex loving comrades, and many queer Cubans still find
themselves the target of repressive abuse.
According to a 2007 U.S. State Department report on human rights in
Cuba, "Societal discrimination against homosexuals persisted, as police
occasionally conducted sweeps in areas where homosexuals congregated,
particularly along sections of Havana's waterfront." The United States
may not be the most unbiased source, yes, but the gays are hardly high
on the Department's list of concerns.
Boris Dittrich, a former Netherlands MP and current Human Rights Watch
LGBT Advocacy director, also confirmed arrest rumors:
We have heard that there are some gay rights activists who have
been detained. It's very complicated to get the facts straight, to get
to know they have been detained just simply because they are homosexual,
or because they were charged with other offenses. It's difficult to discern.
A bigger understatement we have not heard.
CENESEX's Guerra denies the "gay detainee" allegations, saying, "There
is not any reason to arrest a man for being gay. It is not considered a
crime in our penal code." That may be - perhaps the government doesn't
arrest men for "being gay," but that doesn't seem to stop police from
detaining activists for other reasons, a clever way of cracking down on
potential adversaries while also maintaining a relatively progressive
facade. The government's recent "acceptance," some say, amounts to
nothing more than political manipulation. And they're right.
Find out what we mean in tomorrow's conclusion - same gay channel, same
gay time!
http://www.queerty.com/cubas-evolving-gay-politics-mired-in-past-20080909/
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