Mariela Castro fights in Cuba for LGTBI rights

Mariela Castro fights in Cuba for LGTBI rights

NEWS.- The situation of the LGTBI community in Cuba is a complex issue in which it easily falls into topics due to ignorance. In the 60s and 70s homosexuality was stigmatized on the island to the extent that Many gays ended up being "re-educated" in work camps. In the best of cases they had vetoed access to the exercise of certain professions such as medicine or teaching.

The Cuban population as a whole has a markedly homophobic mentality which basically has its roots in two issues. On the one hand, there would be the cultural heritage generated in the period of Spanish colonization in which the most reactionary Catholic thought penetrates, machismo, transphobia and racism are the blackest face of that legacy. On the other hand, the situation in pre-revolutionary Cuba, a kind of paradise for foreigners for gambling and prostitution, leaves in the collective memory the idea of ​​the homosexual as a hustler, as an individual with a vicious behavior incompatible with the revolutionary ideal.

Fortunately, this situation has been changing and the rights of LGTBI citizens are living a moment of profound transformation.
Mariela Castro, head of Cuba's National Center for Sex Education and daughter of Cuba's acting President Castro, smiles during event in Havana
This week the newspaper "The New York Times", published an interview with Mariela Castro, daughter of Raul Castro and niece of the revolutionary leader Fidel. In May the 2007 Mariela, who defines herself as heterosexual, took to the streets in Havana followed by a large group of transvestites flying rainbow flags. That demonstration marked the beginning of a turnaround for the living conditions not only of the LGTBI community, but also of other minorities on the island that began to make their voices heard.

Mariela is a deputy of the Cuban National Assembly and heads the National Center for Sexual Education. She and her mother, Vilma Espín, now deceased, worked in their personal capacity to change the mentality of the Castro brothers regarding sexual minorities. This was propitious a decade ago to stop the official persecution, but not to come out of the shadows or get rid of the stigma. In spite of everything, achievements have been achieved, such as the fact that the government facilitates sex reassignment surgery and hormone replacement treatments for transgender people. A new labor code that protects homosexuals has also been approved.

Mariela_Castro_2010_Hamburg

On the island is not gold everything that glitters in terms of LGTBI rights, there are clashes between different LGTBI activist sectors and there is still a long way to go until the total equalization of rights, but we believe that the improvements are already a fact and that The recent political turn in relations with Washington will help accelerate that process.

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