[Marxism] Helping Cubans realize `what it means to be gay'

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Since I have so frequently bashed Gary Marx about his writings on
Cuba, I must tell you he certainly gets it right with this article.
Since being back here in Cuba for a week, it's worth adding also
that the Malecon - presumably he means near the Bom Bom ice cream
shop down near the corner of 23rd at the bottom of LA RAMPA isn't
the only place where gay people can be found openly.

Nothing in my experience has provoked so much cultural debate on
this island as LA CARA OCULTA DE LA LUNA, the Cuban soap opera on
this topic. I'm hoping to interview some of the people involved in
the production, and others who have written about it. With luck it
may be possible to bring back a few DVDs with some episodes when
I'm back in the United States where there's no doubt an audience
for this material. We continue to see discussion of the topic in
the Cuban media, and I've recently found a Cuban website with over
thirty THOUSAND words of discussion of the topic which I'm hoping
to get translated for the English readership. We're still working
on completing the series of articles on this from LA JIRIBILLA for
the English readership as well. It should be added that this topic
isn't COMPLETELY new to Cuba. Beyond Fresa y Chocolate there has
been literature and at least one other film, VIDEO DE FAMILIA
(Family Video) which took up the story of a Cuban man who left
the country for reasons known to his parents, who were played by
two of the island's best-known actors: Enrique Molina and Veronica
Lynn. Google it for more information.

For a broad webliographo on Cuba and LGBT issues, please refer to:
http://www.walterlippmann.com/lgbt-cuba.html


Walter Lippmann, CubaNews
http://www.walterlippmann.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews
==================================================================g

SAN LUIS OBISPO TRIBUNE
Posted on Sun, Jun. 04, 2006
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/14739778.htm

Helping Cubans realize `what it means to be gay'
BY GARY MARX
Chicago Tribune

HAVANA - It was bad enough when Belkis suspected that her husband, a
construction worker and loving father named Yassel, was having an
affair with another woman. Then she learned the truth: Yassel was in
love with another man.

"You're not a man, not a woman, nothing!" Belkis shouted. "I don't
want to see you again!"

The confrontation between Belkis and Yassel was a dramatic high point
of a groundbreaking soap opera titled "The Dark Side of the Moon,"
which in recent months has captivated and roiled this intensely macho
nation.

While the soap opera's five story lines all focus on HIV infection
and AIDS, Cuban gays describe the second narrative capturing Yassel's
sexual awakening as a pivotal moment in this country's long history
of discrimination against homosexuals.

They say it is the first time Cuba's state-run television has
portrayed homosexuality openly and realistically, let alone during a
prime-time soap opera, a must-see event for many of the island's 11
million residents.

"Ten years ago this would have been impossible," said Daniel
Hernandez, a gay 22-year-old student. "A lot of things have evolved."

Magda Gonzalez, chief of the drama division for the Cuban Institute
of Radio and Television, which oversees the nation's television
stations, said the series has been among the most-watched in Cuban
history. Viewers have responded with a flood of mostly favorable
e-mails, she said, and Yassel's relationship has been grist for radio
talk shows and newspaper articles.

"If you are going to talk about AIDS, then you have to deal with the
theme of sex between men," Gonzalez said.

Not everyone is pleased.

Ramiro Navarro, a 44-year-old security guard from Havana's Regla
neighborhood, said he was glued to the soap opera yet sickened by its
portrayal of a married man involved with a male lover.

"The message of the soap opera is that you should accept people for
who they are," Navarro said. "I don't agree with that. I am against
homosexuality. It's immoral."

But Margarita Parrado, 35, of Havana said the soap opera's message of
tolerance is a step forward for Cuba. "Each person has their own way
of living and you have to respect them," she said. "Homosexuals are
human beings too."

While Cuba's socialist government portrays itself as being dedicated
to equality and justice, its leaders often have displayed little
tolerance for those who do not fit their definition of a proper
revolutionary.

During the two decades after Fidel Castro's triumph in 1959, men
sporting long hair, rock musicians and other Cubans deemed
anti-social by Communist Party leaders were ostracized.

Cuban authorities viewed homosexuality as deviant behavior, and
openly gay men and women were barred from top political positions and
other jobs. Some homosexuals were sent to rehabilitation camps.

Official attitudes began to change in the late 1970s, and today Cuban
gays say they suffer far less discrimination. Yet there are no
prominent gay or lesbian organizations in Cuba, and no gay rights
movement to speak of. Homosexuals say they are mostly tolerated
rather than accepted.

"This is a macho society where, even now, a gay man hides being with
another gay like me," said Juan Miguel Mas, a 40-year-old dancer.

One of the few places in Cuba where gay men are not afraid to gather
is along a narrow stretch of the Malecon, Havana's sweeping seaside
boulevard.

On a recent Saturday evening, dozens of men chatted, flirted and
drank rum and cola from white plastic cups. Two of them kissed as
uniformed police strolled by, checking identification and arresting
those suspected of prostitution.

Perched on the seawall, Oswald Alarcon and several friends said the
portrayal of Yassel's homosexual relationship on television means
that Cuban officialdom, which approves all programming, finally has
acknowledged reality.

Even the award-winning 1993 Cuban film "Strawberry and Chocolate,"
which told of the relationship between an intellectual homosexual and
a devout communist, never was broadcast on Cuban television.

"There was never any space in the public discourse (about
homosexuality). It's as if gays didn't exist," explained Alarcon, 26,
a biochemist.

"This is an important step in terms of getting the message about
homosexuality to the people," he said. "We've seen it in movies, but
everyone watches the soap opera. It helps people understand what it
means to be gay."

Alarcon and his friends hope the series will lead to a broader
acceptance. But the circumstances surrounding the telenovela, or soap
opera, show how much ground needs to be covered.

The series is broadcast at 9:30 p.m. so fewer children will watch.
The producers also were careful how they portrayed Yassel's
homosexual relationship. Yassel and his lover, Mario, are never shown
kissing, hugging or holding hands.

"Images are very powerful," said scriptwriter Freddy Dominguez.
"There is a way to get the message across without offending the
viewer."

At the same time, the soap opera captured the homophobia that
persists in Cuba and other Latin American nations, with the
characters employing the derogatory word maricon to describe
homosexuals.

In one emotional scene, Yassel's mother, Marcia, pleads with her
husband, David, to allow Yassel to live with them after his wife
throws him out.

"This fairy is not my son," responds David, his face twisting in
anguish. "I raised a man, a man. ... Tell him to leave here and go
far away."

But David eventually accepted his son after learning Yassel had been
infected with HIV.

In the end, Yassel also seems at peace with himself. "You don't know
what it's like living with a mask, Belkis," he says to his wife,
"trying to please everyone in the world, repressing your desires and
annulling who you are."


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