Source: Associated Press, Earth Times, ABC News (Australia)
HAVANA -- Cuba's gay community celebrated unprecedented openness -- and high-ranking political alliances -- with a government-backed campaign against homophobia on Saturday.
Several hundred gay men and women gathered at an outdoor cultural center for a rare display of public solidarity.
The meeting at a convention center in Havana's Vedado district may have been the largest gathering of openly gay activists ever on the communist-run island. President Raul Castro's daughter Mariela, who has promoted the rights of sexual minorities, presided.
"This is a very important moment for us, the men and women of Cuba, because for the first time we can gather in this way and speak profoundly and with scientific basis about these topics," said Castro, director of Cuba's Center for Sexual Education.
Mariela Castro joined government leaders and hundreds of activists at the conference for the International Day Against Homophobia that featured shows, lectures, panel discussions and book presentations. A station also offered blood-tests for sexually transmitted diseases.
It is only the second time Cuba has officially marked the anniversary of the World Health Organization's decision to remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses. The week-long festival of events is being organized.
Cuba National Assembly president Ricardo Alarcon says he supports the celebrations.
"I think that it's a good initiative. It's an issue that raises concern around the world and I think it's good that in Cuba it is also marked in a proper way," he said.
Cuban state television gave prime-time play Friday to the U.S. film Brokeback Mountain, which tells the story of two cowboys who conceal their homosexual affair.
Prejudice against homosexuals remains deeply rooted in Cuban society, Associated Press reports, but the government has steadily moved away from the Puritanism of the 1960s and 1970s, when gay people hid their sexuality for fear of being ridiculed, fired from work, or even imprisoned.
Until revolutionary leader Fidel Castro stepped down due to illness earlier this year, Cuba had been tightly ruled for nearly half a century.
But his brother Raul, who took over as president, has launched a huge raft of reforms, including making more consumer goods available, liberalizing agriculture to allow small farmers access to unused agricultural land and opening the doors of its tourist hotels and attractions to Cuban citizens.
Now Cuba's parliament is studying proposals to legalize same-sex unions and give gay couples the benefits that people in traditional marriages enjoy.
Alarcon said the government needs to do more to promote gay rights, but said many Cubans still need to be convinced.
The gay rights movement should be careful not to "flood" Cuban society with a message that many are not ready to hear, physician and gay activist Alberto Roque cautioned.
And Mariela Castro said gay activists should opt for more subtle ways to chip away at deep-seated homophobic attitudes.
On Friday, the Cuban government said, through a report in the young people's newspaper of the Communist Party, that it intends to prepare its citizens for life in a modern state.
Juventud Rebelde, the newspaper, reported that the Cuban National Assembly has formed a 43-member commission which will develop an "integral plan for educating citizens" about civil society, in order to strengthen civic knowledge and awareness about the organization of Cuban society.
Cubans were ill informed about "many issues" of civil society, assembly Alarcon was quoted as saying.
Although sexual minorities were not mentioned in the report, it did state that the need for the project was clear from polling of the population.
"The project is inextricably entwined with the present and future of socialism in Cuba," Alarcon aid.
In comparison to other countries in the region, Cuba is admired for the generally high standard of education of its citizens. Its physicians, engineers and technicians have been deployed worldwide to help less developed countries.
But there are huge gaps when it comes to jurists, people who understand the law, economists,public administrators and others who understand how a modern society functions. Analysts say that addressing these shortcomings is one of the most important projects in Cuban reforms.
Full article: Cuban government backs calls to combat homophobia | Associated Press
Cuba wants to prepare citizens for modern life, government | Earth Times
Cuba rallies against homophobia | ABC News (Australia)