Persecution of homosexuals in Cuba

[Red October]

I saw a movie today in school about the persecution of homosexuals in Cuba, and I'm wondering about the factual accuracy of it. Were LGBT people arrested and sent to forced labor camps or otherwise discriminated against by the Cuban government?

Basically what I'm looking for is a summary of the Cuban state's actions towards the LGBT people in Cuba.

[Red Menace]

I do believe that it was true. The extremity of it, I am not quite sure of. I believe that there was fear in the air of AIDS, despite it not receiving the recognition that it did in the 80's.

[spartan]

It did happen and there is no excuse for it.

Its just another thing on a long list that proves that Cuba never was or is Socialist.

I really dont know how a state that so openly did this can come out and call itself Socialist?

They are a disgrace to the term Socialist for what they did to those poor homosexual people!

And people cant even defend this horrible action by Cuba via the AIDS excuse as it just doesnt hold up because the majority of the world never put homosexual people in concentration camps.

Also werent Fidel Castro and Che Guevara well known for their homophobic views?

[manic expression]

It's a lot more complicated than just "repression". First, from what I've heard, the last anti-GLBT laws were taken off the books years ago (probably around a decade now). Even then, the laws weren't really used too much at all and so it was more of a confirmation. An example of Cuban policy to GLBT issues is that, IIRC, gays are now allowed to marry in Cuba.

On the "labor camps", that is at best a misconception and at worst slander. They were not labor camps at all: they monitored people who were at risk of AIDs during the 80's. Those put into these programs included gays as well as non-gays. However, it is a fact that the disease was spreading like wildfire through gay communities across the world, and so obviously homosexuals were very much at risk. Those who were monitored recieved very good living conditions and were not subject to any abuse or forced labor or the like. As a result of these policies, Cuba was able to avert the tremendous damage that AIDs caused many other countries (and their GLBT communities in particular).

While gays were dying in shocking numbers in capitalist countries, and while the liberals stood by and watched them suffer, Cuba acted and saved countless lives from that terrible illness. Cuba has continued to defend its people, gay and otherwise, from AIDS.

I'll try to find some links on this subject, but I'm quite sure that what I've said is true.

[spartan]

While gays were dying in shocking numbers in capitalist countries, and while the liberals stood by and watched them suffer, Cuba acted and saved countless lives from that terrible illness. Cuba has continued to defend its people, gay and otherwise, from AIDS.

Yeah by forcing them into concentration camps against their will.

And before you go nuts at me for using the term "concentration camp" the definition of a concentration camp is an encampment where certain people (Who are usually apart of a unique and distinguishable section of society) are concentrated and forced to live in so that the people who brought them there can keep them imprisoned and under close watch for what ever reasons they have.

Two examples of concentration camps being used:

The British internment of Boer civilians which was apparently to prevent them from supplying the Boer guerrillas and thus keep the Boer guerrilla struggle against British annexation, alive.

And the internment of Japanese-Americans by the US in WW2 apparently because they were a security threat to the US after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour bringing the US into the war.

[manic expression]

Yeah by forcing them into concentration camps against their will.

And before you go nuts at me for using the term "concentration camp" the definition of a concentration camp is an encampment where certain people (Who are usually apart of a unique and distinguishable section of society) are concentrated and forced to live in so that the people who brought them there can keep them imprisoned and under close watch for what ever reasons they have.

People whose health is seriously threatened are forced to go to the ER in modern countries (which is basically what happened in Cuba in the 80's). Think about that the next time you go to a hospital, or what you call a "concentration camp".

[spartan]

Their is a major difference between an ER in a hospital and a concentration camp!

And the people who do go into ER are usually so ill that they dont get a choice or they voluntarilly entered the hospital and thus voluntarilly put themselves in the care of the hospital staff.

Whilst someone in a concentration camp is forced to go there and stay regardless of what their health is or their wishes.

[luxemburg89]

Yeah by forcing them into concentration camps against their will.

And before you go nuts at me for using the term "concentration camp" the definition of a concentration camp is an encampment where certain people (Who are usually apart of a unique and distinguishable section of society) are concentrated and forced to live in so that the people who brought them there can keep them imprisoned and under close watch for what ever reasons they have.

Two examples of concentration camps being used:

The British internment of Boer civilians which was apparently to prevent them from supplying the Boer guerrillas and thus keep the Boer guerrilla struggle against British annexation, alive.

And the internment of Japanese-Americans by the US in WW2 apparently because they were a security threat to the US after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour bringing the US into the war.

Castro's (auto)biography is out now so I reckon you should buy that and read what he has to say first. He openly admits he made mistakes and says that he has no problem with homosexuals and that he hates all segregation - he does not excuse anything he did, just explains why it happened and that he has learnt from his mistakes.


They are a disgrace to the term Socialist for what they did to those poor homosexual people!


Why do all your posts read like psuedo-liberal bullshit? You act as if you pity them; pity is a disgusting self-indulgent christian/liberal idea - as if you look down on people with amusement.

[spartan]

Why do all your posts read like psuedo-liberal bullshit? You act as if you pity them; pity is a disgusting self-indulgent christian/liberal idea - as if you look down on people with amusement.

No i think of situations, like what happened in Cuba, like this "What the hell did they ever do to deserve this?".

There is absolutely no excuse for what he did to them, no excuse at all.

So take your Castro apologism elsewhere as i am not intrested in a stupid old fools attempt at trying to win back support after making a "mistake".

[LSD]

Were LGBT people arrested and sent to forced labor camps or otherwise discriminated against by the Cuban government?

Yes.

Cuba's repression of homosexuals is one of the more shameful aspects of its recent history, one which even its most ardent defenders cannot help but condemn.

That said, Cuba is one of very few third world countries that has completely reversed course on this issue, and is now attempting to implement real broad-scale homosexual rights. It's not doing a perfect job at it, but there is a serious effort to institutionalize LGBT rights.

I'm the last person to defend the Cuban state, but it's important to acknowledge progress where it exists, and Cuba's transition from brutal state-sponsored homophobia to pursuing legalized homosexual rights is one of the more interesting stories in the history of the third world gay rights struggle.

Recent surveys indicate that most Cubans are still homophobic -- it was that homophobia, obviously, which precipitated the oppression of the '80s and '90s; and yet because the government of Cuba is obsessed with casting itself as a progressive and revolutionary body, Cuba has no choice but to recognize gay rights.

This is one of those fascinating situations in which the perversion of democracy is actually beneficial to large swashes of the population. If the people of Cuba had actually gotten to have their say, there'd be no chance of gay marriage in Cuba; and yet as it stands, the Communist Party insists that it plans on tabling a gay marriage law any day now.

It's kind of like what happened in South Africa where the Supreme Court delcared an exclusively heterosexual definition of marriage unconstitutional, despite a majority of the population opposing gay marriage. If the people had actually gotten to decide, there would be no gay marriage in Africa.

It's the ultimate flaw of the democratic state, the tyranny of the majority over the unpopular or "deviant". So sometimes it's actually the less democratic countries that are ahead on social issues like this one.

After all, the Bolsheviks legalized homosexuality as soon as they got into power, and were among the first to do so in the world. They didn't do it with the consent of the Russian people, most Russians at the time were deeply homophobic (most Russians still are, actually), but the Bolsheviks pressed on regardless, and they were right to do so!

All of which teaches us two lessons about state power: (1) that it can be wielded arbitrarily and capriciously, with devastating results; but also (2) that even when democratically appointed and overseen, it is still an oppressive instrument.

That Cuba, a Marxist-Leninist dictatorship and the United States, a capitalist republic, could come together in their mutual condemnation of homosexuals speaks volumes about the ultimate commonality of the political state as a social entity.

[Xiao Banfa]

Cuba legalised homosexuality in 1975 ten years before New Zealand.

[R_P_A_S]

It did happen and there is no excuse for it.

Its just another thing on a long list that proves that Cuba never was or is Socialist.

I really dont know how a state that so openly did this can come out and call itself Socialist?

They are a disgrace to the term Socialist for what they did to those poor homosexual people!

And people cant even defend this horrible action by Cuba via the AIDS excuse as it just doesnt hold up because the majority of the world never put homosexual people in concentration camps.

Also werent Fidel Castro and Che Guevara well known for their homophobic views?

you swear bro that people are born perfect and the "ideal communist" or some shit. you don't understand ANYTHING about the sad reality of "latin machismo" It's no secret...even Fidel admits to the ultra chauvinistic sense back then in the early days of the revolution. Fidel has changed his views now and I think he should be commended for that as oppose to being criticize for the way he thought 20,30 years ago.. same goes for Che.. he actually didn't have a chance to change because he was killed..

[Luís Henrique]

you swear bro that people are born perfect and the "ideal communist" or some shit. you don't understand ANYTHING about the sad reality of "latin machismo" It's no secret...even Fidel admits to the ultra chauvinistic sense back then in the early days of the revolution. Fidel has changed his views now and I think he should be commended for that as oppose to being criticize for the way he thought 20,30 years ago.. same goes for Che.. he actually didn't have a chance to change because he was killed..

I don't think it even was a particularly Latin American thing. In 1970, everybody knew for sure that homosexuality was a disease, or a sin, a sign of bourgeois decadence, a vice, or just sheer shamelessness. In any way, it was simply wrong. And this was the general opinion in Latin America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and North America, by the left, the far-right, the centre-left, the far-left, the right, the centre, the top, the bottom, the back and the front. It was the general opinion among Christians, Muslisms, agnostics, Buddhists, pantheists, atheists, Moonists and Hare-Krishnas.

Hell, I fear it was the prevalent opinion even among homosexuals...

It took what it always takes to reverse that: actual organisation and activism by homosexual people. Freedom is to be conquered, not received as a gift.

Luís Henrique

[kromando33]

Comrade, there is a difference between the liberal bourgeois notion of 'rights' for minorities, that is affirmative action quotas and special preferential treatment, and having true equality in the proletariat. Making a big deal over feminism, ethnic equality or homosexuality promotes these groups over the working class, as if they are more important. Their is no 'homosexuals', 'blacks' or whatever in society, these are trivial nothings, their is only the bourgeois and proletarians.

[spartan]

Their is no 'homosexuals', 'blacks' or whatever in society, these are trivial nothings, their is only the bourgeois and proletarians.

Yes but, for the most part, they are part of the Proletariat who suffer more oppression, than your "average" white heterosexual male, because of the way they are.

Tackling their oppression is a worthy strugle and if you gain victory then it is one small victory for us against the forces of reaction.

We on the left have tried to do everything at once before and it didnt work.

Right now we should be concentrating on the small changes and struggles.

[manic expression]

Their is a major difference between an ER in a hospital and a concentration camp!

The point is that you, in your infinite naivite, used a definition of "concentration camp" that includes ER's. The above statement is proof of your lack of logic.


And the people who do go into ER are usually so ill that they dont get a choice or they voluntarilly entered the hospital and thus voluntarilly put themselves in the care of the hospital staff.

Whilst someone in a concentration camp is forced to go there and stay regardless of what their health is or their wishes.

The people who entered Cuba's anti-AIDS programs were forced to do so because their lives were at risk. What's more is that the entire population of Cuba, like other countries at the time (and today), was threatened by AIDS. What Cuba did is exactly what most countries do in respect to ER's: make sure health threats are treated. Your failure to understand this lies at the center of your misconception on this issue.

Your comparison is absolutely wrong, and now you're even contradicting it yourself.

[spartan]

The point is no one should be forced into anything unless they are a huge risk to others (And even then it should only be done with the consent of those who could be potentially affected by the potential risk).

Why didnt most other countries follow Cubas example by forcing homosexuals (Who may or may not have AIDS) into concentration camps to prevent a risk of spreading the disease?

And whats most striking is that Castro (A known homophobe) would deliberately single out homosexuals when heterosexuals were as much a risk at spreading AIDS as homosexuals were.

Honest to God i cant believe that you are defending something that even Castro himself admits was a "mistake" that should never have happened.

[blabla]

I saw a movie today in school about the persecution of homosexuals in Cuba, and I'm wondering about the factual accuracy of it. Were LGBT people arrested and sent to forced labor camps or otherwise discriminated against by the Cuban government?

Basically what I'm looking for is a summary of the Cuban state's actions towards the LGBT people in Cuba.

I'm sure the movie you watched was Before Night Falls with Johnny Depp and Sean Penn among others. Reinaldo Arenas wasn't persecuted because he was a homosexual but because was a "dissident." He may have been a good writer but that doesn't justify his nonconformism and hostility to socialism. Also the man confessed to sleeping with more than 5,000 men; is that a healthy lifestyle??? Sadly, he died in N.Y. of AIDS and the world lost a truly gifted writer--- a write who was promoted and supported and fostered by the revolutionary government (May I add that Arenas supported the revolution in his teenage years).

[chimx]

After all, the Bolsheviks legalized homosexuality as soon as they got into power, and were among the first to do so in the world. They didn't do it with the consent of the Russian people, most Russians at the time were deeply homophobic (most Russians still are, actually), but the Bolsheviks pressed on regardless, and they were right to do so!

The early Russian government still persecuted homosexuals, just using different laws -- "lewd and and indecent behavior" and things like that.

And of course, Stalin's leadership remade homosexuality illegal I believe. I would be curious if there was any connection between Cuba's policy and the USSRs because of this.

[spartan]

The early Russian government still persecuted homosexuals, just using different laws -- "lewd and and indecent behavior" and things like that.

And of course, Stalin's leadership remade homosexuality illegal I believe. I would be curious if there was any connection between Cuba's policy and the USSRs because of this.

It probably had more to do with Castros known homophobia.

Of course Castro apologists will argue otherwise stating that he only put homosexuals into concentration camps to stop the spread of AIDS.

But if this was the case then why didnt he do exactly the same to heterosexuals who could potentially spread AIDS as well?

[Herman]

I don't think it even was a particularly Latin American thing. In 1970, everybody knew for sure that homosexuality was a disease, or a sin, a sign of bourgeois decadence, a vice, or just sheer shamelessness. In any way, it was simply wrong. And this was the general opinion in Latin America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and North America, by the left, the far-right, the centre-left, the far-left, the right, the centre, the top, the bottom, the back and the front. It was the general opinion among Christians, Muslisms, agnostics, Buddhists, pantheists, atheists, Moonists and Hare-Krishnas.

People, read what he has just said. Herein lies the greatest truth of this thread.

[Pawn Power]

People, read what he has just said. Herein lies the greatest truth of this thread.

However, at the same time (1970) Huey Newton gave a speech The Women's Liberation and Gay Liberation Movements which stated the necessity of uniting with gay people.

It was posted on revleft a year ago, here:
http://www.revleft.com/vb/women-39-s-t55613/index.html?t=55613&highlight=huey

[Luís Henrique]

However, at the same time (1970) Huey Newton gave a speech The Women's Liberation and Gay Liberation Movements which stated the necessity of uniting with gay people.

It was posted on revleft a year ago, here:
http://www.revleft.com/vb/women-39-s-t55613/index.html?t=55613&highlight=huey

Good for Newton, and I mean it. I would say that was a blatant exception in 1970; before 1968, it would be almost unthinkable.

Some people seem to thing like Batista's dictatorship in Cuba was a lenient regime regarding homosexuality, and then Castro, out of the blue, or out of his sick personal homophobia, or even (good grief) out of Stalinist influence, started persecuting homosexuals, something that apparently never happened before in Cuba, and wasn't happening at the same time in the US, in Brazil, in Sweden, in Ethiopia, in Japan, in Australia, etc.

Come on.

Luís Henrique

[spartan]

Some people seem to thing like Batista's dictatorship in Cuba was a lenient regime regarding homosexuality, and then Castro, out of the blue, or out of his sick personal homophobia, or even (good grief) out of Stalinist influence, started persecuting homosexuals, something that apparently never happened before in Cuba, and wasn't happening at the same time in the US, in Brazil, in Sweden, in Ethiopia, in Japan, in Australia, etc.
Castro was still persecuting homosexuals as late as the early 90's.

Whereas by this time most of the other countries mentioned in your post had moved on by then with any laws discriminating against homosexuals being revoked (Whilst all the while Castro is still putting them in concentration camps!).

And at least the discrimination of homosexuals, in most of those other countries you mentioned, didnt involve them being forced into concentration camps!

By the 80's most of the other countries in your post had lots of gay bars and clubs which were very popular and perfectly legal.

[Luís Henrique]

Castro was still persecuting homosexuals as late as the early 90's.


(Whilst all the while Castro is still putting them in concentration camps!).

Those two claims seem a bit contradictory, don't you think so?

Luís Henrique

[Luís Henrique]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Center_for_Sex_Education_in_Cuba

Luís Henrique

[Luís Henrique]

And whats most striking is that Castro (A known homophobe) would deliberately single out homosexuals when heterosexuals were as much a risk at spreading AIDS as homosexuals were.

The problem here is this is just sheer misinformation. Homosexuals weren't singled; HIV+ people, regardless of sexual orientation were (in fact, most people quarantined were heterosexual).

Cuba is far from being a paradise, but not everything the gusanos say is remotely true.

Luís Henrique

[FireFry]

Yeah, I think it's also personal, you know, Castro was a jock growing up, he was very into basketball and sports and athletism. Those types of people typically fag raggers.

[kromando33]

I think sexuality is a non-issue, as in race, sex etc, all that matters is class, if we as Marxists really want to treat the working class equally we should give them the decency of not dividing them on these petty issues, even referring to certain groups as 'minorities' is a liberal tactic to divide the working class against itself, we should just say 'we are all workers, no matter what', it's not about discriminating for or against people because of these silly things, it's about treating everyone equally and not singling some out for preferential special treatment, it's cynical and divisive.

[Black Dagger]

I think sexuality is a non-issue, as in race, sex etc, all that matters is class

Just curious, and forgive the personal question but, are you a heterosexual, white male?

[kromando33]

Just curious, and forgive the personal question but, are you a heterosexual, white male?
What does it matter? I wouldn't care if something was a woman, black, gay or whatever, my point is that it's ultimately irrelevant.

Also, if you'll allow me an off-topic question, but do you really support the Juche idea? And if so how do you reconcile the capitalist 'export zones' and special 'enterprise areas' in North Korea, is that not open capitalism?

[manic expression]

Yeah, I think it's also personal, you know, Castro was a jock growing up, he was very into basketball and sports and athletism. Those types of people typically fag raggers.

That's possibly one of the most vapid posts I've ever seen on RevLeft. Congrats.


Just curious, and forgive the personal question but, are you a heterosexual, white male?

Yes. I also play multiple sports and have consistently done so since I was a kid. So, in the eloquent words of FireFry, "'my type' of people typically fag raggers".

Let me ask you this in a fully honest manner: how is that relevant in any way?

By the way, I know you weren't talking to me, but a.) I'd like to prove a point and b.) obviously your argument applies to me as well.

[Black Dagger]

What does it matter? I wouldn't care if something was a woman, black, gay or whatever, my point is that it's ultimately irrelevant.

And my point is that for a white-hetero-male to say that "sexuality is a non-issue, as in race, sex etc" is ridiculously privileged - why are these non-issues? Because you say so? What do you know about these things?

When you say 'all that matters is class' what you're essentially saying, 'all that matters is stuff that effects me' - and that the stuff that hundreds of millions of other working class people have to deal with in their daily struggles is a 'non-issue' - people get abused, bashed and killed because of it, people lose their jobs and get fucked their whole lives, taught they're worthless, stupid, inferior - and that's all a 'non-issue'? This isn't shit that communists need address? It's not important; just shut up about race and let's get back to talking about class k? We'll deal with that shit that effects you (but not me) after we deal with the shit that effects me k?

You really expect working class women, queers, people of colour etc. to take you seriously after that?

When you simplify life; when you simplify the struggle of working folks to 'class is all that matters... racism... sexism... that's all a non-issue' it makes you sound ignorant and privileged - because other people have to deal with issues alongside class - stuff like racism, sexism, homophobia (things that intersect with class relationships - it seems you missed the mid-20th century changes within the revolutionary left when you read dem big books)- there is no choice involved, if you're actually effected by something you can't ignore it; it can never be a non-issue (if only!).

So congratulations i guess; you must sleep like a baby.

[manic expression]

And my point is that for a white-hetero-male to say that "sexuality is a non-issue, as in race, sex etc" is ridiculously privileged - why are these non-issues? Because you say so? What do you know about these things?

When you say 'all that matters is class' what you're essentially saying, 'all that matters is stuff that effects me' - and that the stuff that hundreds of millions of other working class people have to deal with in their daily struggles is a 'non-issue' - people get abused, bashed and killed because of it, people lose their jobs and get fucked their whole lives, taught they're worthless, stupid, inferior - and that's all a 'non-issue'? This isn't shit that communists need address? It's not important; just shut up about race and let's get back to talking about class k? We'll deal with that shit that effects you (but not me) after we deal with the shit that effects me k?

You really expect working class women, queers, people of colour etc. to take you seriously after that?

When you simplify life; when you simplify the struggle of working folks to 'class is all that matters... racism... sexism... that's all a non-issue' it makes you sound ignorant and privileged - because other people have to deal with issues alongside class - stuff like racism, sexism, homophobia (things that intersect with class relationships - it seems you missed the mid-20th century changes within the revolutionary left when you read dem big books)- there is no choice involved, if you're actually effected by something you can't ignore it; it can never be a non-issue (if only!).

So congratulations i guess; you must sleep like a baby.

You DO know that African-American and Latino communities (at least in the US) are no less homophobic than white communities (arguably more so), right? I mean, you must have known that, since you're so infintely perceptive of all things that affect homosexuals (or at least you never tire of telling other people that you are). That you asked if he was a WHITE male seems to be ignorant to the aforementioned fact, however. Surely, you simply made an innocent mistake that takes nothing away from your superior understanding of homophobia.

More to the point, I can neither stand nor understand the sort of identity politics that you're peddling. It is a fundamental conclusion of Marxism that everything follows from class dynamics. Homophobia, racism and more are the RESULTS of capitalism and the rule of the bourgeoisie; they are NOT things that are equally important as class. If you ask me, this insistence on "totalist politics" flies in the face of any accurate socialist understanding of society; in short, it reeks of liberalism.

[Red Rebel]

In the 1960s homosexuals in Cuba were sent to UMAPS (Military Units Assisting Production), i.e. forced labour. UMAPS were disbanded within a few years at the plea of several priests in Cuba. IIRC in 1979 homosexuality was decriminalized. The main cause of this error in the revolutionary government was not understanding the situation. Talking about homosexuality and sexual dieases just didn't happen.

Cuba made a complete 180 though.



Fidel Castro on homosexuality
There are many misunderstandings and lies spread about Cuba on the issue of homosexuality. Therefore it is worth noting what Fidel Castro said in his interview with the Nicaraguan Tomás Borge in 1992.
From Face to face with Fidel Castro
Tomás Borge: Many people think that there is sexual discrimination in Cuba. What are your views on homosexuality?
Fidel Castro: I don't consider homosexuality to be a phenomenon of degeneration. I've always had a more rational approach, considering it to be one of the natural aspects and tendencies of human beings which should be respected. That's how I view it... I am absolutely opposed to any form of repression, contempt, scorn or discrimination with regard to homosexuals. That's what I think.

http://www.ratb.org.uk/html/cspeaks/face_to_face.html



Gay rights in Cuba
Homophobia exists in Cuba as it does all over the world. But those who assert that widespread repression of homosexuality exists in Cuba rely on statements made in the 1960s when homosexuality was a criminal offence (as it was in Britain). While there have been instances in Cuba in recent times when gays have been subjected to harassment, this has been due to individuals? backward ideas and prejudice. But the idea of Cuba as a repressive regime where gays face constant persecution is constantly brought up by Trotskyists and opportunists in Britain as a stick to beat the Revolution, and needs to be countered, as RICHARD ROQUES shows.
Before the Revolution, when Cuba was an offshore casino and brothel for the idle rich of the US, homosexuality was outlawed. Repression and poverty forced many gay men into prostitution. The anti-homosexual 1930s Public Ostentation Law, remained after the Revolution triumphed. Between 1965 and 1968, homosexual men were amongst those incarcerated in austere Military Units to Aid Production (UMAP), labour camps set up to counter bourgeois and individualistic elements who were resisting the Revolution. The camps were closed down in 1968 following bitter protests to the government by the Cuban Writers and Artists Federation. A year later, meanwhile, in the United States, after years of persecution, homosexuals fought pitched battles with the police after a routine raid in the Stonewall bar.</STRONG>
In 1979 homosexual acts were decriminalised in Cuba (unlike in many capitalist countries; some states in the US retain outdated sodomy laws). In 1987 the offence of ?homosexual acts in public places? was removed from Cuba?s penal code. The age of consent for homosexuals in Cuba is 16 years, the same as for heterosexuals. In 1993 sex education workshops on homo- sexuality were run throughout Cuba to explain that homophobia is a prejudice. At the same time Castro declared:
'I don't consider homosexuality to be a phenomenon of degeneration... it to be one of the natural aspects and tendencies of human beings which should be respected. I am absolutely opposed to any form of repression, contempt, scorn or discrimination with regard to homosexuals.'
In the same year [I]Strawberry and Chocolate, the first Cuban film to deal openly with homosexuality, was hugely popular in Cuba, It was the only film funded by the government that year.
In 1995 the May Day march, one of the most important events in the social and political calendar, was led by drag queens who were cheered along the whole route. Imagine trannies at the state opening of parliament or Trooping the Colour. Only one queen at those. And she doesn't salsa.
In 1996 Pablo Milanes, a singer adored by his fellow Cubans, who had himself been incarcerated in a UMAP in the 1960s, dedicated a song about gay men to all Cuban homosexuals. Recently a play produced by El Teatro Sotano ran in Vedado entitled Muerte en el bosque (A Death in the Woods). Based on the investigation of the murder of a Havana drag queen, through the investigation of the crime, Cuban attitudes towards and prejudices against gays are examined and challenged at every level of society. In December 2000, at the film festival in Havana, easily half of the Latin American films shown had gay themes.
AIDS: Another stick to beat Cuba with
The policy of enforced detention in sanatoria for HIV/AIDS sufferers initially introduced in Cuba was contentious, but an effective way of dealing with a then little-understood and potentially devastating disease. The policy of compulsory quarantine ended ten years ago. Cuba is today in the forefront of the fight against HIV/AIDS - a fact met with deafening silence from Cuba?s enemies.
Those diagnosed with HIV are given an eight-week education and drug support programme in a sanatorium and then have the choice to stay (gay couples live together) or return to their homes. Dr Byron Barksdale, director of US charity Cuban AIDS Projects pointed out that people in the US 'may get five minutes worth of education'. Infection rates in Cuba are 0.1%, the lowest in the region, with 3,200 cases out of a population of 11 million. Anonymous testing is available and most HIV cases are diagnosed within six months of exposure. Cuba now produces generic anti-retroviral treatment. Multinational pharmaceutical companies make fantastic profits out of anti-retroviral drugs and deny them to the poor. In the US people with HIV/AIDS who do not have health insurance are denied the latest drugs. In contrast, Cuba has sent thou- sands of doctors and nurses to almost every part of the world to help in the struggle against HIV/AIDS. In Botswana, with the highest proportion of people in the world with HIV/AIDS, Cubans work in clinics and hospitals and the Cuban government has offered to train, at no cost, nurses and doctors from other Caribbean countries to fight the pandemic.

In a capitalist society if you are gay and rich and you live in a city, life can be good. But capitalism hasn?t abolished homophobia. On 6 October, 1998 in Wyoming, Matthew Shepherd was tied to a fence and beaten within an inch of his life. He died several days later. He had been beaten up on two previous occasions because he was gay. In one of the attacks his jaw was broken. In the aftermath US organisation The National Youth Advocacy Coalition published Facts about gay youth which included the statistics that 80% of gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people report verbal abuse and 66.7% of gay, lesbian and bisexual youth were threatened/injured with a weapon at school in the past year. Only a few miles from Cuba, gays in Jamaica are regularly murdered, raped and brutalised with the apparent acquiescence of the police and legal system. Assaults on homosexuals are up 15% in Britain from last year. I was queer-bashed in London a few years ago and ended up in casualty. That?s what over 40 years of gay rights has achieved under capitalism. Socialist Cuba, meanwhile, has constantly shown itself able to learn from the mistakes of the past; today it has a visible and thriving gay and lesbian community and is moving towards an ever-more tolerant and inclusive society, valuing all its people for their contribution to society, regardless of sexual orientation.
From Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 181 October/November 2004

http://www.ratb.org.uk/frfi/181_gay.html

[TC]

How many times do the same lies about Cuba need to be refuted here? Its freakishly boring. Cuba is one of the few states that actually spends money encouraging homosexuality as a normal social condition rather than taking a neutral stance on it. Fidel Castro has made public statements against homophobia and in favour of homosexuality as natural and healthy, Ricardo Alacron has made statements in favour of gay marriage, anyone who thinks that the Cuban Communist Party is in any way anti-gay is an idiot who needs to stop eating up everything the bourgeois media says.

[Lenin II]

It did happen and there is no excuse for it.
Jumping to conclusions because it serves your political agenda. Nice.

Its just another thing on a long list that proves that Cuba never was or is Socialist.
Blah, blah, blah.

They are a disgrace to the term Socialist for what they did to those poor homosexual people!
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL. Holy shit, that is so rich. Not “people,” but “poor homosexual people!” I seriously laughed out loud when I read this!

And people cant even defend this horrible action by Cuba via the AIDS excuse as it just doesnt hold up because the majority of the world never put homosexual people in concentration camps.
There is no evidence that they were “concentration camps.” And yes, Ronald Reagan’s method of dealing with AIDS worked much better.

Also werent Fidel Castro and Che Guevara well known for their homophobic views?
According to who? David Horowitz? Go vote for Hillary Clinton, you 700 club mousquito.


The British internment of Boer civilians which was apparently to prevent them from supplying the Boer guerrillas and thus keep the Boer guerrilla struggle against British annexation, alive.
And the internment of Japanese-Americans by the US in WW2 apparently because they were a security threat to the US after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour bringing the US into the war.
Yes, of course, I can see perfectly how a political persecution based on race and political affiliation compares with quarantine on a medical basis. Yes, yes, it all makes sense now.

Their is a major difference between an ER in a hospital and a concentration camp!Not in your view, apparently.

And the people who do go into ER are usually so ill that they dont get a choice or they voluntarilly entered the hospital and thus voluntarilly put themselves in the care of the hospital staff. Whilst someone in a concentration camp is forced to go there and stay regardless of what their health is or their wishes.
There are government-sactioned quarantines for public safety all the time, for example the patients of West Nile Virus, SARS and bird flu were kept in monitering facilities. Ebola patients are also treated in that manner. By your definition, all ERs are concentration camps.


I'm the last person to defend the Cuban state, but it's important to acknowledge progress where it exists, and Cuba's transition from brutal state-sponsored homophobia to pursuing legalized homosexual rights is one of the more interesting stories in the history of the third world gay rights struggle.
I would hardly call monitering “brutal state-sponsored homophobia,” but it’s nice to see an anarchist defend a progressive force that deserves it, unlike people like Spartan, who are determined to help out the bourgeoisie at every possible opportunity. Spartan is literally to the right of democrat Oliver Stone.


Right now we should be concentrating on the small changes and struggles.
I disagree. This reformist route is ideal, but will take hundreds of years. The only way to change the state of things is violent revolution.


The point is no one should be forced into anything unless they are a huge risk to others
GOD, do you listen to yourself? So AIDS is not a huge risk to the population? Tell that to Africa!


And whats most striking is that Castro (A known homophobe) would deliberately single out homosexuals when heterosexuals were as much a risk at spreading AIDS as homosexuals were.
It is a well-known fact in the medical community that most AIDS patients are homosexual men, in fact I believe the figures are somewhere near 70-80%.


And of course, Stalin's leadership remade homosexuality illegal I believe. I would be curious if there was any connection between Cuba's policy and the USSRs because of this.
I have never heard such a thing. What’s your source for this?


Castro was still persecuting homosexuals as late as the early 90's.
Source?

Yeah, I think it's also personal, you know, Castro was a jock growing up, he was very into basketball and sports and athletism. Those types of people typically fag raggers.
Pointless.