bars</tle><g id="el_oZ84Hna1GC_65hRV2Qwn" class="css-1fxvzwo" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_oZ84Hna1GC_ILVvi2tqx" class="css-1wnday1" ata-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_oZ84Hna1GC"><rect x="34" width="6" height="36" id="el_qw_T_tngXw"></rect></g></g></g><g id="el_mYVjkduhMU_p_9Pm85Ac" class="css-fwki7z" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_mYVjkduhMU_WxG3R40yd" class="css-t3i5e6" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_mYVjkduhMU"><rect x="22.67" width="6" height="36" id="el_lf9GrROk6j"></rect></g></g></g><g id="el_o-EuxhgoAw_kYNRGDfcw" class="css-t9te0w" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_o-EuxhgoAw_3c3bzSjOJ" class="css-1r5375t" ata-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_o-EuxhgoAw"><rect x="11.33" width="6" height="36" id="el_-iueO8klO0"></rect></g></g></g><g id="el_F7mSMPhqpC_y_fKcpSxn" class="css-qknaag" data-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="0"><g id="el_F7mSMPhqpC_R6bNB6_Ys" class="css-1vd04" ata-animator-group="te" data-animator-type="2"><g id="el_F7mSMPhqpC"><rect width="6" height="36" id="el_dS5TKNZZ5w"></rect></g></g></g></svg></div><div><div class="css-1t7yl1y">0:00<!-- -->/<!-- -->3:59</div><div class="css-og85jy">-<!-- -->0:00</div></div></div></div></hear><div class="css-uzyn7p"><div class="css-1vxyw"><p class="css-1nng8z9">transcript</p><h2 class="css-9wqu2x">Ana’s Story: Transgenr Cuba</h2><h4 class="css-qsd3hm">The Cuban ernment paid for Ana Rafaela Diaz Gomez’s sex change, yet challeng still rema for same-sex upl on the island.</h4></div><dl class="css-p98d0w"><dt class="css-xx7kwh"></dt><dd class="css-4gvq6l"><p class="css-8hvvyd">Ana Rafaela Diaz Gomez builds a new life after her genr reassignment surgery and hormone replacement therapy two years ago.</p></dd></dl></div></div></div></div><script type="applitn/ld+json">{"@ntext":","@type":"VioObject","@id":","scriptn":"The Cuban ernment paid for Ana Rafaela Diaz Gomez’s sex change, yet challeng still rema for same-sex upl on the island.","url":","name":"Ana’s Story: Transgenr Cuba","thumbnailUrl":[",","],"embedUrl":","ntentUrl":","uploadDate":"2014-12-19T23:29:09.000Z","transcript":"Ana Rafaela Diaz Gomez builds a new life after her genr reassignment surgery and hormone replacement therapy two years ago.","duratn":"PT3M59S"}</script></div><div class="css-1cueeje" style="paddg-bottom:56.25%;transn:opacy 300ms ease--out"><div class="css-1ihorw"><img src=" alt="Vio player loadg"/></div><div class="css-ew1078"><div class="css-ptry2i"><div></div><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><figptn class="css-1ifea e1maroi60"><span class="css-jevhma e13ogyst0">The Cuban ernment paid for Ana Rafaela Diaz Gomez’s sex change, yet challeng still rema for same-sex upl on the island.</span></figptn></figure><div class="css-1guqxks"><a class="css-1vknhtq" href=">See how this article appeared when was origally published on </a></div></hear><sectn name="articleBody" class="meteredContent css-1r7ky0e"><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompannColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">In Cuba, street march have historilly been ernment-orchtrated events or dissint protts that are swiftly cshed by the thori. So was downright startlg when, May 2007, Fil Castro’s niece sntered down the street wh a small army of drag queens wavg gay pri flags.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Long before the Obama admistratn announced a dramatic shift Cuba policy on Wednday, assertg that isolatg the island had failed, a uple of Wtern ernments wh close ti to the Uned Stat saw the potential to help gay Cubans, even though meant workg wh a proment member of the Castro fay. Havana’s first observance of the <a class="css-yywogo" href=" tle="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia and Transphobia</a> marked the begng of a remarkable evolutn of gay rights the most populo untry the Caribbean, a regn where hostile attus toward sexual mori rema the norm.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Mariela Castro, the dghter of the current print, Raúl Castro, has led the charge on legislative and societal chang that have given rise to an creasgly visible and empowered muny. In the procs, she has rved out a rare space for civil society an thorarian untry where grass-roots movements rarely succeed. Some Wtern diplomats Havana have seen the progrs on gay rights as a potential blueprt for expansn of other personal eedoms one of the most opprsed societi on earth.</p></div><asi class="css-ew4tgv" aria-label="pann lumn"></asi></div><div></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompannColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Norway and Belgium have fancially supported Ms. Castro’s anizatn, the Natnal Center for Sexual Edutn, offerg a tt of the mers of supportg certa polici of a ernment that the Uned Stat and European pals have largely shunned bee of s bleak human rights rerd. As the Obama admistratn begs rryg out s new Cuba policy, should draw lsons om the impact others have had by engagg.</p></div><asi class="css-ew4tgv" aria-label="pann lumn"></asi></div><div><div style="max-width:100%;marg:0 to" class=""><div data-id="100000003363731" data-slug="cuba-transgenr-spanish-button" class="css-1ax702a" style="max-width:300px"><iame src=" class="css-sqdgy8" ameBorr="0" scrollg="no" width="100%"></iame></div></div></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompannColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“It’s fe to cricize, but you also have to acknowledge that they’ve done good,” said John Petter Opdahl, Norway’s ambassador to Cuba, a recent terview. Mr. Opdahl, who is gay, said his ernment gave Ms. Castro’s anizatn $230,000 over the last two years. “She has taken off a lot of the stigma for most people the untry, and she has ma life so much better for so many gay people, not only Havana but the provc.”</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Fil Castro’s ernment ostracized sexual mori durg the 1960s and 1970s, sendg some people to labor mps. The btal treatment of gay men was poignantly chronicled by the Cuban wrer Realdo Arenas, who was jailed 1974 for lerary works the thori emed an “iologil viatn.” His tobgraphy, “Before Night Falls,” a crilly acclaimed book that was ma to a movie, is perhaps the most thorative ttimony of a particularly dark chapter of Cuban history.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Ms. Castro said she and her mother, Vilma Espín, for years quietly prsed the Castro brothers to soften their attu toward sexual mori. A ago, Cuba’s gay muny was no longer as persecuted, but nohels operated the shadows. Ms. Castro, a member of Cuba’s Natnal Assembly, opted to take on the issue.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">After the 2007 march, Ms. Castro, who is straight, began a public mpaign to promote tolerance. She persuad the ernment recent years to offer state-paid genr reassignment surgery and hormone treatment for transgenr people. Last year, when the Assembly passed a labor that protected gays and lbians — but not transgenr people — om discrimatn the workplace, Ms. Castro beme the first lawmaker Cuban history<a class="css-yywogo" href=" tle="AP story" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> to st a dissentg vote prott.</a> Her ultimate goal, she said, was difyg full equaly unr the law.</p></div><asi class="css-ew4tgv" aria-label="pann lumn"></asi></div><div></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompannColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Gay Cubans say that discrimatn remas a problem, particularly outsi big ci. Still, last year, a woman Caribién, a municipaly east of Havana, beme the untry’s first transgenr elected official. At the urgg of Ms. Castro and gay bloggers, 2010 Cuba began votg favor of rolutns supportg gay rights at the Uned Natns, breakg ranks wh alli Ai and the Caribbean.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">While wily admired, Ms. Castro and her state-n anizatn are not whout crics Cuba’s gay muny. In 2011, Yasmín Portal Machado, a gay rights activist, cid to <a class="css-yywogo" href=" tle="Proyecto Ar Iris web se" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">start a new group</a> lled Proyecto Ar Iris, or Rabow, feelg was necsary to have a platform for other voic and ias.</p></div><asi class="css-ew4tgv" aria-label="pann lumn"></asi></div><div><figure class="sizeMedium css-sx232s" aria-label="media" role="group" data-ttid="VioBlock"><div class="css-1xb94ky"><span class="css-1dv1kvn">Vio</span><div><div class="css-n27z15" style="paddg-bottom:56.25%"><div class="css-mm3pwi"><div class="css-1g7y0i5 e1drnplw0"><button tabx="100" class="css-1rtlxy" type="button" aria-label="close"><svg width="60" height="60" viewBox="0 0 60 60" fill="none"><circle cx="30" cy="30" r="30" fill="whe" fill-opacy="0.9"></circle><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M38.4844 20.1006L39.8986 21.5148L21.5138 39.8996L20.0996 38.4854L38.4844 20.1006Z" fill="black"></path><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M21.5156 20.1006L20.1014 21.5148L38.4862 39.8996L39.9004 38.4854L21.5156 20.1006Z" fill="black"></path></svg></button><div class="css-rdbib0 e1drnplw1"></div><div class="css-18ow4sz e1drnplw2"><div aria-labelledby="modal-tle" role="regn"><hear class="css-1bzlfz"><div class="css-mln36k" id="modal-tle">transcript</div><button type="button" class="css-1igvuto"><div class="css-f40pzg"></div><span>Back</span></button><div class="css-f6lhej" data-ttid="transcript-playback-ntrols"><div class="css-1ialerq"><button tabx="99" type="button" class="css-1t9gw" aria-label="play"><svg xmlns=" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M8 13.7683V6L14.5 9.88415L8 13.7683Z" fill="var(--lor-ntent-sendary,#363636)"></path><circle cx="10" cy="10" r="9.25" stroke="var(--lor-stroke-primary,#121212)" stroke-width="1.5"></circle></svg></button><div class="css-1701swk"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 40 36" id="el_0kpS9qL_S"><tle>bars

fidel castro gay

A visible and empowered gay muny offers hope that other eedoms will take root.

Contents:

FIL CASTRO TAK BLAME FOR PERSECUTN OF CUBAN GAYS

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. * fidel castro gay *

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.

A VIVID LOOK AT GAY LIFE CASTRO’S CUBA

Many pot to the placg of gay men labor mps and people wh HIV quarante, while others say some of Castro's polici benefed the natn. * fidel castro gay *

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. David unfortunately blurts out that Diego is gay to a pro-revolutnary police type character, Miguel, who sets a trap for Diego.

FIL CASTRO TAK BLAME FOR 1960S GAY PERSECUTN

* fidel castro gay *

The irony is that today, twenty years later, life for gays is so much better Havana and New York, where the play buted. 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".

CUBA'S FIRST GAY HOTEL REOPENS AS HUMAN RIGHTS TERRATE

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. 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

FIL CASTRO TAK ‘RPONSIBILY’ FOR PERSECUTN OF CUBAN GAYS

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. Laws that crimalized gay people and ma same-sex displays of affectn an object for police attentn have been repealed.

DID FIL CASTRO TRIGGER THE US GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT?

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.

CUBA’S GAY RIGHTS EVOLUTN

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.

MARIELA CASTRO WS GAY-RIGHTS ADVOCY AWARD

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.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* FIDEL CASTRO GAY

Castro adms 'jtice' for gays and lbians durg revolutn .

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