Fw: GLBT's in Cuba: Invisible No More

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(Here's my response to the nice
note from my friend Don White.)
========================

----- Original Message -----
From: "Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <change-links@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 9:19 PM
Subject: Re: GLBT's in Cuba: Invisible No More


Wow, thanks, Don! Cuba's
bad past on LGBT people
has long-since not been the
case. Last year the Cubans
showed a gay coming out
picture featuring two of the
island's leading movie stars:
Enrique Molina and Veronica
Lynn. It was shown theatrically
in Cuba and has been shown
internationally, such as here
in Los Angeles at the Latino
Film Festival last year.

On Cuban TV right now there
is a three-times per week
telenovela in which one of the
characters (a positive kind of
character) is known to the
audience as being gay, but
he's not uncloseted in the
actual script. There's more.

Things are far, far better for
LGBT people in Cuba today,
at least that's why my LGBT
friends and in Cuba tell me.

Though they don't quarantine
HIV+ people any longer, they
do continue to provide totally
free medical care.

(Actually, they will quarantine
people who, following a
psychosocial assessment are
determined not to be able to
follow a sexually responsible
life style.

Though there are no groups
of gays organized publicly as
such on the island, I'm sure
that institutionalized prejudice
as existed in the sixties and
seventies doesn't exist at all.

Of course there remains lots
of homophobia in the general
population, as in virtually any
other place on the planet.

The recently-held international
sexology conference in Havana
featured numerous panels and
workshops on homosexuality.
Take a look at the conference
agenda and you'll see Cuba's
hardly the homophobic hell
you would expect if you thought
Julian Schabel's shitty reactionary
movie told you what Cuba is like:
http://www.cubasexologia.com/16congreso/SessionSymposia.HTM

Jon Hillson, a local expert on
this presented his research on
Reinaldo Arenas and the movie
BEFORE NIGHT FALLS. It can
be read at this address:
http://www.blythe.org/arenas.html

Take care and thanks for that
lovely message, Don.


Walter
=========================

----- Original Message -----
From: Don White
To: change-links@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ;
CubaNews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ; marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 5:50 PM
GLBT's in Cuba: Invisible No More


~~~ Thank you for posting this article, Walter.

It is an issue which continues to be of "front burner
interest" to many in the solidarity/peace/social justice
community. How difficult it was during the 1980's---when
Cuba's solidarity with El Salvador, Nicaragua and other
revolutionary movements was so strong and so
important----that many of us had to be strongly critical of
the Cuban government's attitudes toward GLBT's and the
repression which was experienced by that community inside
"Cuba Libre!"

Even those of us who had unqualified solidarity with ---and
worked to defend---the Cuban Revolution found it necessary
to criticize and denounce policies which repressed many
brothers and sisters inside Cuba.

One of the top comandantes of the FSLN was an fairly open
Lesbian and a top comandante of the FMLN was gay.  But many
delegations to Cuba in the early 1980's banned gays and
Lesbians from participating, largely due to the
sensitivities of the Cuban government.

There have been major advances and major changes in Cuba's
attitude although, sorry to say, more is needed [just as
more is needed everywhere, eh?]  The policy to quarantine
HIV positive people, which was government policy up to the
1990's I believe, is a thing of the past and other major
advances have been made.

We appreciate your continuing posts which help us learn more
about the current situation in Cuba....and I might add that
Cuban revolutionary leaders whom we met and got to know
during their visits here in Los Angeles often said, "The
analysis and criticisms coming from our solid revolutionary
supporters outside the country help us learn and move
forward; your views are always welcome."

So we consistently defended the revolution and worked hard
for the ideals of the Cuban revolution to spread .... while
respectuflly pointing out the weaknesses and
inconsistencies.... d.w.
>Vanessa Bauza can be reached at vmbauza1@xxxxxxxxx



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