Castro's Niece Casts Rare 'No' Vote In Parliament, Cg Gay Rights : The Two-Way : NPR

Contents:

• FIL CASTRO TAK BLAME FOR PERSECUTN OF CUBAN GAYS
• FIL CASTRO’S HORRIFIC RERD ON GAY RIGHTS
• CASTRO ADMS 'JTICE' FOR GAYS AND LBIANS DURG REVOLUTN
• THE SUPREME COURT RULGS THAT HAVE SHAPED GAY RIGHTS AMERI
• MARIELA CASTRO WS GAY-RIGHTS ADVOCY AWARD
• CASTRO'S NIECE CASTS RARE 'NO' VOTE IN PARLIAMENT, CG GAY RIGHTS
• IS THE CASTRO GETTG LS GAY?
• DID FIL CASTRO TRIGGER THE US GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT?
• CASTRO'S DGHTER SRNED BY LAWMAKERS, PRAISED BY GAY RIGHTS GROUPS

FIL CASTRO TAK BLAME FOR PERSECUTN OF CUBAN GAYS

Image ptn, Mr Castro told Carmen Lira that he had not paid enough attentn to the treatment of homosexualsFil Castro has said that he is ultimately rponsible for the persecutn suffered by homosexuals Cuba after the revolutn of former print told the Mexin newspaper La Jornada that there were moments of great jtice agast the gay muny.

In the 1960s and 70s, many homosexuals Cuba were fired, imprisoned or sent to "re-tn mps" Castro said homosexuals had tradnally been discrimated Cuba, jt as black people and women.

Amid the fawng enia released upon his long-overdue ath at the age of 90, should never be fotten that he was also an opprsor, torturer, and murrer of gay people.

FIL CASTRO’S HORRIFIC RERD ON GAY RIGHTS

“We would never e to believe that a homosexual uld embody the ndns and requirements of nduct that would enable to nsir him a te revolutnary, a te munist ant, ” Castro told an terviewer 1965. ” In the ey of Castro and his revolutnary ra Che Guevara—who equently referred to gay men as marin, “faggots”—homosexualy was herently unterrevolutnary, a bourgeois nce.

CASTRO ADMS 'JTICE' FOR GAYS AND LBIANS DURG REVOLUTN

In 1965, the regime tablished prison work mps known as Milary Uns to Aid Productn (UMAP), to which posed homosexuals, Jehovah’s Wns, and other “unsirable” elements. Alert to this news, the Mattache Society—one of the earlit gay rights anizatns the Uned Stat—held monstratns outsi the Uned Natns and the Whe Hoe succsively over two days.

That same year, Allen Gsberg was expelled om Cuba for spreadg mors that Rl Castro—Fil’s brother and succsor as print—was gay and claimg that Guevara was “cute. One of the untry’s most distguished wrers, Realdo Arenas, reunted the prison experience he and untls other gay men endured his memoir Before Night Falls. ” Gays prised a signifint portn of the 125, 000 Cubans (“worms, ” Fil Castro’s words) permted to leave the island for the Uned Stat as part of the 1980 Mariel Boatlift.

(The 1984 documentary Improper Conduct, which tells the stori of gay and straight Marielos, remas one of the starkt dictments of the Castro regime.

THE SUPREME COURT RULGS THAT HAVE SHAPED GAY RIGHTS AMERI

) When the Human Immunoficiency Vis h the island’s gay muny the mid-1980s, the regime’s rponse was to quarante all HIV-posive people sanariums, referred to as “pretty prisons” by the founr of the World Health Organizatn’s Global Program for AIDS. No doubt attuned to the way which gay rights has bee central to the agenda of a global left creasgly sensive to the claims of inty polics, the Cuban regime recent years has tried to fashn self as beg the vanguard of homosexual liberatn.

But no matter how much life for gay Cubans might have improved om the days of forced labor mps, ’s all occurrg wh the ntext of a totalarian society whose cizens nnot vote, are nied basic eedoms like the right to speak or prott eely, and nnot form anizatns pennt of the ernment. Mariela is a hard-re munist who skirts around her fay’s horrific rerd of opprsg LGBT people, and her ersatz gay rights csa reeks of beg a vany project and personaly Wtern progrsiv nohels fall for this pkwashg chara.

Outsi of the vlatns, historians regard the 1960s as an even more reprsive for one Cuban muny particular: the untry’s homosexual populatn. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, gay men were routely imprisoned for solicg sex public lotns, ernment workers lost their jobs bee of their homosexualy, and homosexual artists were censored.

MARIELA CASTRO WS GAY-RIGHTS ADVOCY AWARD

From 1965 to 1968, openly homosexual men were round up and rcerated UMAP (Milary Uns to Aid Productn) mps signed to turn them to the heterosexual ial. 7 In another se of historic persecutn, the famo Mariel Boat Lift of 1980, the Castro regime expelled thoands of homosexual Cubans he nsired among other “unsirabl. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Havana’s polici toward s LGBT muny began to change as munist lears around the world began to lean toward a more tolerant policy regardg homosexualy.

9 For example, 1977 the Cuban Natnal Center for Sex Edutn (CENESEX) was found by the Cuban Women’s Feratn, which “enuraged a more enlightened outlook on homosexualy and started to unrme tradnal sexual prejudic and taboos. Some have argued that another explanatn for Havana’s homosexual polici is that Cuba’s ntued pennce on the Soviet Unn for tra and assistance led to a Stalist-style tolerance of homosexualy throughout the earlier part of the . 14 The annulment of many of the remag laws the Penal Co that had prohibed homosexual nduct allowed thori to release those who had been prevly imprisoned for homosexual activy.

15 Durg this perd, the Cuban thori began to show greater tolerance toward homosexualy orr to enforce safe sex and to ga polil support for the regime om the LGBT muny and om cril ternatnal observers. The Cuban ernment began to produce films and documentari nmng discrimatn agast homosexualy, and the medil muny Cuba began to scribe homosexualy as a natural mory ndn rather than a perverse choice.

CASTRO'S NIECE CASTS RARE 'NO' VOTE IN PARLIAMENT, CG GAY RIGHTS

” However, 1997, this language was modified to “hasslg wh sexual mands, ” gradually removg the distctn between heterosexual and homosexual behavr. In addn, prev public sndal laws that penalized those who “publicly flnted their homosexual ndn” were later changed to those who engaged “sexual sult, ” ditg a more most tone agast homosexualy. Although he once vulgarly referred to homosexuals as “agents of imperialism, ” and praised the Cuban untrysi for supposedly beg ee of homosexualy, his recent claratns exprs a much more tolerant sentiment.

24 Gay rights activists, both Cuba and abroad, have acced the Cuban thori of applyg the crime of “pre-crimal dangerons” unfairly to homosexuals, and ignorg plats of those who have been beaten or fired om their jobs bee of their sexual orientatn. 25 Other gay rights activists have cricized Mariela Castro for her nsistency and hypocrisy when to gay rights, argug that gay rights activists ntue to be imprisoned, beaten, or simply disappear while she provis ltle more than lip service to the issue.

For example, 2006, the Cuban state televisn released “The Dark Si of the Moon, ” the first soap opera on Cuban televisn ncerng issu of homosexualy. The most negative reviews nced the belief that the show was important, but as a way to warn people of homosexualy’s nsequenc rather than a way to promote tolerance and acceptance toward . 28 While the nnectn to gay rights is margal at bt, such an act do suggt yet another attempt by the Castro regime to mornize and adapt to the changg mands of s society.

IS THE CASTRO GETTG LS GAY?

Whether this more lenient policy translat to greater rights for gays the near future is unclear, but certaly suggts a willgns to nsir more progrsive ctoms, which is another promisg sign.

Penalti towards gay men have gradually been rced, the ernment has exprsed s support for gay rights, and even gay civil unns have been serly proposed and nsired.

STORY HIGHLIGHTSCuba sent openly gay men to labor mps wh no charg the '60s and '70sFil Castro acknowledg "persecutn" of gays and lbians durg the RevolutnCastro says the U. Embargo agast Cuba enuraged his untry to be creative Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- Former Cuban lear Fil Castro said he acknowledg the persecutn of gays and lbians durg the Revolutn his untry, acrdg to a newspaper terview published Tuday. "We had so many and such terrible problems, problems of life or ath, that we didn't pay enough attentn, " Castro said of the way gays and lbians were treated.

DID FIL CASTRO TRIGGER THE US GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT?

But, members of the LGBTQ muny are worried that the cy's Castro District, long the cultural center for gays and lbians San Francis is beg ls queer. "But… I'm jt lookg around at my own iends and who are also gay and lbian and they're leavg the neighborhood, " The Castro's roots wh the gay rights movement began after World War II, when workg class fai moved out and gay men moved .

SEE ALSO: San Francis Giants 1st MLB team to wear Pri lors on the field "We've been seeg gayborhoods beg lost major ci all across the untry, " said Terry Bwick Executive Director for GLBT Historil Society. SEE ALSO: US rtor gay and transgenr health protectns reversal of Tmp-era policy District 8 Supervisor Rafael Menlman says 's important to strike a balance between matag the Castro's cultural inty while welg non-gays and straight fai.

CASTRO'S DGHTER SRNED BY LAWMAKERS, PRAISED BY GAY RIGHTS GROUPS

"But I do believe that is important to remember the history of the place, to be there for people who still need a gayborhood to meet people, to gather, to anize polilly, " said Menlman.