Page 1 of 1 pages
The idea that “Not much has changed since Reinaldo Arenas
Posted by walterlx on Dec 7, 2009 at 4:22 PM
Walter is right. This is a very strange blog to be selected by ITT.
Presented with such a limited, distorted view, the uninformed reader remains uninformed. The incidents of oppression alleged in the excerpted blog published in ITT, are not official policy. The last decade has seen a sea change not only in official policy, shedding discriminatory practices, but also in the efforts of the print, electronic and broadcast media to eliminate homophobia in Cuban society. Ojala that all US children should be exposed to sex education in public schools that teaches that diversity is the norm.
In conversations with CENESEX staff (the National Center for Sexual Education) I have learned that they continually work to sensitize the police and investigate alleged abuse that comes to their attention.
As one example of Cuba
Posted by debrae on Jan 5, 2010 at 8:42 AM
Frankly speaking I was pretty shocked when I listened to the piece of news found by mp3 search describing Fidel Castro’s attitude to sexual minorities. For those who forgot, he admitted that during the revolution in Cuba, he unfairly persecuted gays and lesbians! Besides as far as i know under the slogan ‘Homosexuality is not dangerous; homophobia is’, many cities across Cuba hosted the third Cuban Conference on the World Day against Homophobia. So as far as i can judge great efforts are made to promote respect of the rights of the sexual minorities in the Island.
Posted by mike hunter on Sep 10, 2010 at 12:59 AM
While I’m sure that many if not most Cubans retain the same confused or negative feelings toward homosexuality as elsewhere in the world, the Cuban government’s policies don’t support or reflect that, as far as I’ve been able to tell, and I’ve researched in essays and dissertations this for several years.
Posted by Cherryl Miles on Oct 10, 2010 at 11:20 PM
It’s true that there are no official sanctioned and explicitly sanctioned LGBT oranizations and institutions in Cuba. As a member of PFLAG (Parents Families an Friends of Lesbians and Gays) in the United States, I think it would be better if there were.
Fort Worth Web Design
Posted by Bean Bowen on Oct 13, 2010 at 11:04 PM
Bean Bowen’s comments are obvious and appropriate. What more could be said? Well a bit more…
NINE YEARS AGO, in an extended commentary comprising four lengthy web pages, I wrote the following which is relevant here:
GAY RIGHTS ISSUES IN CUBA
The mid 1960s through early 1970s were a time when gay men experienced harsh repression by the Cuban government. Gays were forbidden to enter some professions, like teaching. Some were rounded up and placed in camps euphemistically called Military Units to Aid Production (UMAP). It was a shameful period. It lasted several years. But it ended. Homophobia still exists, but it’s not institutionalized, and it’s not considered acceptable in polite conversation.
Thinking about that period, it’s useful to recall that it occurred prior to the Stonewall rebellion (1969) and the rise of the modern gay liberation movement. Homosexuality was still viewed as a psychiatric disorder. The political left, probably reflecting social prejudice, was indifferent, if not hostile, to gay rights.
The practices of the past in Cuba were rooted in the traditional homophobia of its culture, from what I could tell. The Roman Catholic Church and its Spanish priesthood were key to this. Cuba’s ties to the Soviet Union, whose governing ideology included the stupid and reactionary concept that homosexuality is a product of “capitalist degeneration,” exacerbated this problem.
The movie “Strawberry and Chocolate” (“Fresa y Chocolate”) is widely seen in Cuba as an implicit apology for the repression of that period. The movie is widely available for sale in Cuba. One of its stars is Jorge Perrugoria, a prominent Cuban actor who happens to be heterosexual. No one commented that it might hurt his career to play a gay role.
Decades later, Cuba’s period of repression continues to be used by opponents to portray the country as a terrible place for everyone, especially for gay men. The movie “Before Night Falls,” based on a wildly imaginative memoir by Reinaldo Arenas, shows why the status of Cuban gays is still an issue Cuba solidarity activists need to be attentive to. The movie is worth an entire essay. Fortunately, that essay has already been written by Los Angeles activist Jon Hillson, and you can read it on the web at NY Transfer, in English and Spanish.
Today, the problems facing lesbian and gay Cubans are largely cultural, not institutional. Gay Cubans aren’t beaten and killed as in the US. In his 1996 book Machos, Maricones and Gays: Cuba and Homosexuality, Canadian scholar Ian Lumsden, while very critical of modern Cuban life, documents the ending of institutionalized discrimination against Cuban gays.
FULL:
http://www.walterlippmann.com/two-months.html
Posted by walterlx on Oct 13, 2010 at 11:19 PM
The final two paragraphs of my 2001 commentary:
In 1999, the Cuban publishing house Editorial Ciencias Sociales released Homosexuality, Homosexualism and Human Ethics (ISBN: 9590603920), by Pedro de la J. Cruz, a professor and researcher at the Cuban Academy of Sciences. The author teaches at the Nico Lopez Advanced School of the Communist Party as well as at a university. His book places gay rights in an international historical and cultural framework and its tone is very sympathetic. A translation for an English-speaking readership would be extremely helpful. Evidence of homophobia arises now and then. Early this year a homophobic article was published by La Tribuna, a Havana newspaper. There seems to be no organized way within which lesbian, gays and their friends in Cuba can take these up. Cuba’s opponents, who don’t support gay rights, hypocritically try to use such things to turn people against Cuba. There are no explicitly gay or lesbian organizations, but there are informal meeting places, like Coppelia and the Yara theater. I saw men in drag not experiencing police harassment. And there are informal networks through which people socialize and keep in touch. I had no trouble finding folks.
Few legal lobbying organizations exist in Cuba. Gay groups were organized in the early 1990s, but they were asked to dissolve when provisions of the Helms-Burton law made Cuban authorities worry that the groups could be targeted for infiltration and disruption. But perhaps if Cuba had a group like PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), such issues could be addressed better. In the US, PFLAG works ceaselessly to support the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and the transgendered, confronting ignorance and prejudice in society. Though I met many gay men who were open and out of the closet, I met very few out lesbians. There must be a lesbian world in Cuba, but it’s apparently closeted. So while I wouldn’t describe Cuba as a “gay-friendly” place, it’s certainly not “gay hostile.”
Posted by walterlx on Oct 13, 2010 at 11:21 PM
Page 1 of 1 pages
SAVE 53% OFFTHE NEWSSTAND PRICE!
Reader Comments
The idea that “Not much has changed since Reinaldo Arenas
Walter is right. This is a very strange blog to be selected by ITT.
Presented with such a limited, distorted view, the uninformed reader remains uninformed. The incidents of oppression alleged in the excerpted blog published in ITT, are not official policy. The last decade has seen a sea change not only in official policy, shedding discriminatory practices, but also in the efforts of the print, electronic and broadcast media to eliminate homophobia in Cuban society. Ojala that all US children should be exposed to sex education in public schools that teaches that diversity is the norm.
In conversations with CENESEX staff (the National Center for Sexual Education) I have learned that they continually work to sensitize the police and investigate alleged abuse that comes to their attention.
As one example of Cuba
Frankly speaking I was pretty shocked when I listened to the piece of news found by mp3 search describing Fidel Castro’s attitude to sexual minorities. For those who forgot, he admitted that during the revolution in Cuba, he unfairly persecuted gays and lesbians! Besides as far as i know under the slogan ‘Homosexuality is not dangerous; homophobia is’, many cities across Cuba hosted the third Cuban Conference on the World Day against Homophobia. So as far as i can judge great efforts are made to promote respect of the rights of the sexual minorities in the Island.
While I’m sure that many if not most Cubans retain the same confused or negative feelings toward homosexuality as elsewhere in the world, the Cuban government’s policies don’t support or reflect that, as far as I’ve been able to tell, and I’ve researched in essays and dissertations this for several years.
It’s true that there are no official sanctioned and explicitly sanctioned LGBT oranizations and institutions in Cuba. As a member of PFLAG (Parents Families an Friends of Lesbians and Gays) in the United States, I think it would be better if there were.
Fort Worth Web Design
Bean Bowen’s comments are obvious and appropriate. What more could be said? Well a bit more…
NINE YEARS AGO, in an extended commentary comprising four lengthy web pages, I wrote the following which is relevant here:
GAY RIGHTS ISSUES IN CUBA
The mid 1960s through early 1970s were a time when gay men experienced harsh repression by the Cuban government. Gays were forbidden to enter some professions, like teaching. Some were rounded up and placed in camps euphemistically called Military Units to Aid Production (UMAP). It was a shameful period. It lasted several years. But it ended. Homophobia still exists, but it’s not institutionalized, and it’s not considered acceptable in polite conversation.
Thinking about that period, it’s useful to recall that it occurred prior to the Stonewall rebellion (1969) and the rise of the modern gay liberation movement. Homosexuality was still viewed as a psychiatric disorder. The political left, probably reflecting social prejudice, was indifferent, if not hostile, to gay rights.
The practices of the past in Cuba were rooted in the traditional homophobia of its culture, from what I could tell. The Roman Catholic Church and its Spanish priesthood were key to this. Cuba’s ties to the Soviet Union, whose governing ideology included the stupid and reactionary concept that homosexuality is a product of “capitalist degeneration,” exacerbated this problem.
The movie “Strawberry and Chocolate” (“Fresa y Chocolate”) is widely seen in Cuba as an implicit apology for the repression of that period. The movie is widely available for sale in Cuba. One of its stars is Jorge Perrugoria, a prominent Cuban actor who happens to be heterosexual. No one commented that it might hurt his career to play a gay role.
Decades later, Cuba’s period of repression continues to be used by opponents to portray the country as a terrible place for everyone, especially for gay men. The movie “Before Night Falls,” based on a wildly imaginative memoir by Reinaldo Arenas, shows why the status of Cuban gays is still an issue Cuba solidarity activists need to be attentive to. The movie is worth an entire essay. Fortunately, that essay has already been written by Los Angeles activist Jon Hillson, and you can read it on the web at NY Transfer, in English and Spanish.
Today, the problems facing lesbian and gay Cubans are largely cultural, not institutional. Gay Cubans aren’t beaten and killed as in the US. In his 1996 book Machos, Maricones and Gays: Cuba and Homosexuality, Canadian scholar Ian Lumsden, while very critical of modern Cuban life, documents the ending of institutionalized discrimination against Cuban gays.
FULL:
http://www.walterlippmann.com/two-months.html
The final two paragraphs of my 2001 commentary:
In 1999, the Cuban publishing house Editorial Ciencias Sociales released Homosexuality, Homosexualism and Human Ethics (ISBN: 9590603920), by Pedro de la J. Cruz, a professor and researcher at the Cuban Academy of Sciences. The author teaches at the Nico Lopez Advanced School of the Communist Party as well as at a university. His book places gay rights in an international historical and cultural framework and its tone is very sympathetic. A translation for an English-speaking readership would be extremely helpful. Evidence of homophobia arises now and then. Early this year a homophobic article was published by La Tribuna, a Havana newspaper. There seems to be no organized way within which lesbian, gays and their friends in Cuba can take these up. Cuba’s opponents, who don’t support gay rights, hypocritically try to use such things to turn people against Cuba. There are no explicitly gay or lesbian organizations, but there are informal meeting places, like Coppelia and the Yara theater. I saw men in drag not experiencing police harassment. And there are informal networks through which people socialize and keep in touch. I had no trouble finding folks.
Few legal lobbying organizations exist in Cuba. Gay groups were organized in the early 1990s, but they were asked to dissolve when provisions of the Helms-Burton law made Cuban authorities worry that the groups could be targeted for infiltration and disruption. But perhaps if Cuba had a group like PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), such issues could be addressed better. In the US, PFLAG works ceaselessly to support the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and the transgendered, confronting ignorance and prejudice in society. Though I met many gay men who were open and out of the closet, I met very few out lesbians. There must be a lesbian world in Cuba, but it’s apparently closeted. So while I wouldn’t describe Cuba as a “gay-friendly” place, it’s certainly not “gay hostile.”
nayahaha..this is so interesting article…The author teaches at the Nico Lopez Advanced School of the Communist Party as well as at a university in my blogpost.
whitetail deer hunting | fallow deer hunts
Oh, what happened? This is so embarrassing to Cuban government. They don’t have fair treatment to lesbians and gay people. I think Gays have their rights too as humans.
digital printing | large format digital printing
register a new account »Posting Security