Mariela Castro Ws Gay-Rights Advocy Award : NPR

Contents:

• FIL CASTRO TAK BLAME FOR PERSECUTN OF CUBAN GAYS
• A VIVID LOOK AT GAY LIFE CASTRO’S CUBA
• FIL CASTRO TAK BLAME FOR 1960S GAY PERSECUTN
• CUBA'S FIRST GAY HOTEL REOPENS AS HUMAN RIGHTS TERRATE
• FIL CASTRO PUT GAY MEN LABOR CAMPS. HIS NIECE MARIELA IS LEADG CUBA’S LGBTQ REVOLUTN.
• CASTRO ADMS 'JTICE' FOR GAYS AND LBIANS DURG REVOLUTN
• FIL CASTRO ADMS PERSECUTN OF GAYS 1960S WAS 'UNJT'
• FIL CASTRO TAK ‘RPONSIBILY’ FOR PERSECUTN OF CUBAN GAYS
• DID FIL CASTRO TRIGGER THE US GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT?
• CUBA’S GAY RIGHTS EVOLUTN
• MARIELA CASTRO WS GAY-RIGHTS ADVOCY AWARD

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. New Jersey, right across the Hudson River om the theater that ho the play, jt legalized same sex marriage and Rsian Print Vladimir Put recently warned athlet head to Sochi Febary for the Wter Olympics not to prott for gay rights.

Strawberry and Cholate is the sometim charmg, and sometim alarmg, story of a iendship between a gay artist and a straight universy stunt Havana 1979, at the height of Fil Castro’s power. Governmental agenci ran programs agast gays for years after Castro’s takeover 1959, wh the blsgs of both the Catholic Church, very fluential Cuba, and the stnchly anti-gay Soviet Unn.

A VIVID LOOK AT GAY LIFE CASTRO’S CUBA

David unfortunately blurts out that Diego is gay to a pro-revolutnary police type character, Miguel, who sets a trap for Diego. The irony is that today, twenty years later, life for gays is so much better Havana and New York, where the play buted.

FIL CASTRO TAK BLAME FOR 1960S GAY PERSECUTN

HAVANA (Rters) - Fil Castro took the blame for a wave of homophobia lnched by his revolutnary ernment the 1960s, but said happened bee he was distracted by other problems, an terview published on Tuday a Mexin Cuban lear Fil Castro speaks at Havana's Jose Marti airport after the arrival of Cuban medil ntgent "Moto Menz" om Bolivia, Augt 17, 2010. The former Cuban print told La Jornada the persecutn of gays, who were round up at the time as supposed unterrevolutnari and placed forced labor mps, was a “great jtice” that arose om the island’s history of discrimatn agast said he was not prejudiced agast gays, but “if anyone is rponsible (for the persecutn), ’s me. While guts enjoyed the five-star service by the pool or a walk along the priste sands, Cuba has not always been so welg to the gay muny.

In the early part of munist lear Fil Castro's le, homosexual men and women were sent to work mps for supposed "re-tn". Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, The hotel is part of a strategy by the thori to attract ep-pocketed gay touristsA jot venture between Muthu Hotels and Gavta, Cuba's ary-n tourism pany, the Rabow Hotel was placed on a US ernment list of sanctned enti Cuba even before was gurated 2019.

Amid such harsh treatment, some Cuban gay rights' activists say the Rabow Hotel is an attempt by the state to mask s poor human rights rerd.

CUBA'S FIRST GAY HOTEL REOPENS AS HUMAN RIGHTS TERRATE

We chat ont of the Hotel Telegrafo, due to be unveiled soon as Cuba's send LGBTQ hotel as the state doubl down on s pursu of the gay tourist dollar.

Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Cuba has seen a huge drop tourism bee of the panmicIn 2015, symbolic same-sex weddgs were held at Havana's ernment-sanctned gay pri march. They jt hope all visors - whether gay or straight - make themselv aware of the wir human rights ntext of their trip.

” So says Luis Perez, himself gay and one of the subjects of Mariela’s March: Cuba’s LGBT Revolutn, director Jon Alpert’s new documentary, which now tak on an extra layer of timels sce premier on HBO at 9 p.

FIL CASTRO PUT GAY MEN LABOR CAMPS. HIS NIECE MARIELA IS LEADG CUBA’S LGBTQ REVOLUTN.

The socialist who once thought of homosexualy as a creatn of the bourgeoisie experienced somethg of a late--life nversn.

For an example of both, look no further than HIV/AIDS, which Cuba appears predomantly to affect gay and bisexual men. ) In some ways, ’s still easier for a trans man to navigate the homophobia and transphobia than a more visible genr challenger, like an outré trans woman who flnts her boobs at a startled ral crowd.

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.

CASTRO ADMS 'JTICE' FOR GAYS AND LBIANS DURG REVOLUTN

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. Sign up to our Eveng Headl email for your daily gui to the latt newsSign up to our ee US Eveng Headl emailFil Castro took the blame for a wave of homophobia lnched by his revolutnary ernment the 1960s, but said happened bee he was distracted by other problems, an terview published yterday a Mexin former Cuban print told La Jornada the persecutn of gays, who were round up at the time as supposed unter-revolutnari and placed forced labour mps, was a "great jtice" that arose om the island's history of discrimatn agast said he was not prejudiced agast gays, but "if anyone is rponsible, 's me.

(Photo: Dmond Boylan/AP)The moment me toward the tail end of an eveng of good food, mic and well-aged m sponsored by HBO celebratn of Jon Alpert’s documentary “Mariela Castro’s March: Cuba’s LGBT Revolutn, ” about Castro’s emergence as the most proment gay rights advote all the unexpected facts about Cuba today, perhaps none is more so than that the 53-year-old Castro dghter — straight, married, a mother of three — has bee s most vol polil advote on behalf of gay, lbian, bi and trans traveled wh Castro four tim to tell that story a 47-mute film that plet the work of the late filmmaker Sl Land, famo sce his ntroversial 1968 movie “Fil!

FIL CASTRO ADMS PERSECUTN OF GAYS 1960S WAS 'UNJT'

June 2016, the film is sure to tapult Castro om a slightly ntroversial figure even Cuba — where she is director of the Cuban Natnal Center for Sex Edutn, or CENESEX, and a member of parliament — to one of the island natn’s most ternatnally visible polil is surprisg to fd the dghter of a stg print leadg the fight for gay, lbian, bi and trans rights a natn still stgglg wh a macho, often homophobic culture and where, unr the learship of her uncle, gay men were once sequtered ary mps — well, wele to Cuba. In the Uned Stat, the gay rights movement was one of the new social movements of the 20th century, a grassroots civil rights fight agast the ernment and social nventns that only began to draw the support of powerful policians after s of anizg work. (Photo: Garance Franke-Ruta/Yahoo News)In fact, far om beg a break wh Cuba’s revolutnary legacy, Mariela Castro suat her gay rights advocy work wh Cuba’s history of left-wg polil transformatn even as she is seekg to ph forward social and polil chang that would have been nceivable at the revolutn’s lnch.

FIL CASTRO TAK ‘RPONSIBILY’ FOR PERSECUTN OF CUBAN GAYS

And maybe to make a revolutn n be a utopian project, but to make perfect is impossible, ” she said remarks before the Havana screeng of the HBO film, which was attend by senr cultural figur the ernment as well as by the trans and gay men and women featured . “Though we were fightg and tryg to make important chang for social jtice, the issu of homophobia and transphobia were not clear, and they had to be put on the agenda. ”*****I sat down wh Castro at CENESEX, loted a lovgly rtored buildg pated shas of yellow amid the shabby gentily of Havana’s Vedado neighborhood two days after the movie screeng for an exclive nversatn about how she me to be the leadg gay rights advote Cuba, about social change her homeland and about her famo Castro name.

Her father “has told me he supports me, that he supports the personal rights of homosexuals, ” she told the New York Tim. (Photo: Alejandro Ernto/EPA)Interviews wh gay and trans people Havana reveal a picture of daily life that has improved markedly for sexual and genr mori the 21st century, and pecially the last five years.

Where gay bars and clubs were once illegal, they are now permted, and some — like most rtrants and other bs Cuba — are even n by the ernment.

DID FIL CASTRO TRIGGER THE US GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT?

Laws that crimalized gay people and ma same-sex displays of affectn an object for police attentn have been repealed. Mar Martez Moral, 23, a part of the youth group Red Joven por los Salud y los Derechos Sexual, n name six different bars where he n go out as a gay man but says he wouldn’t feel fortable walkg hand hand wh his boyiend on the street, even Havana. Outsi the Las Vegas nightclub up the street om the rner of 23rd and Malecón, a hangout for gay men and trans women Havana — a sort of Christopher Street piers area — two young men scribed their difficulti jt survivg.

*****In the HBO film, Castro tak an opportuny to apologize directly to Luis Perez, who had been one of the ary’s UMAP mps, where dissints, relig mori and homosexuals were sent to work the fields. Many people wh wealth said they were gay to avoid servg, but sce homophobia was very strong at the time wh the army and the ernment, was cid to put the gay people to separate army uns, fact all targets of prejudice went to the uns. The rt of the world was as homophobic as we were, or ntued, returng to the prent and to the future: “The most important thg for me is banish homophobia, [to foster] the sense of personal pennce that wh emancipatn.

CUBA’S GAY RIGHTS EVOLUTN

Homosexualy is no longer crimalized on the island natn and Castro’s niece, Mariela Castro (dghter of current Print Rl Castro), is a proment activist for expandg gay rights Cuba. In the terview, Castro said the reprsn agast gays occurred a tumultuo perd while the Communist ernment was fendg self agast ‘traors’ and the CIA.

MARIELA CASTRO WS GAY-RIGHTS ADVOCY AWARD

The dictator's belated acknowledgment and disavowal of his persecutn of homosexuals prompted this fascatg email om Frank Kameny, the most important activist the early gay rights movement:While, Castro had no notn, of urse, of what he was dog this ntext at that time, my view and my terpretatn of the dynamics of the 1960s Gay Movement, he triggered Stonewall and all that has followed. ", and others specifilly addrsed ernmental and private anti-gay discrimatn here, and other gay-related problems of the so, on April 17, 1965, ten of gathered Lagayette Square, marched across Pennsylvania Avenue to a se amongst the other monstrators signated by the police officer on duty, and picketed. So, if you enter to a same-sex marriage, or are helped by a gay-protective anti-discrimatn law, or n for elective office an an open gay, thank Fil.

For stance, the 1960s he "sent thoands of gay men and others emed unf for ary service to labor mps known as Milary Uns to Aid Productn, " the Bla not. She has won praise om some rners, but Jam Kirchick, wrg The Daily Beast, scribed her work as an "ersatz gay rights csa.

""No matter how much better 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, " Kirchick are others, cludg some LGBT activists, who have ld Cuba's ernment for providg ee tn and health re, while fightg poverty and discrimatn, the Bla not. "Pa, empts, mment are very tense and difficult feelgs to separate, " gay Cuban blogger Francis Rodriguez Cz, who supports the Castro fay, told the Bla.