Celebrating a New Outlook Toward Gays
A Cuban March Against Homophobia
by DON FITZ and JACQUELYN OMOTALADE
“This discussion has changed my mind about homosexuality. Now I understand what my lesbian friend went through. When she graduated from medical school in Cuba, she cried. She told me that she could live her life the way she wanted to when she was in Cuba. But now she would return to Honduras as a doctor and would have to hide her lifestyle, hide who she is.”
These were the words of a young woman wearing the medical school bata (white shirt) who identified herself as Honduran. The Honduran medical student spoke at an open forum which was part of the International Day Against Homophobia (May 17, 2012) in Cienfuegos, Cuba. The forum featured Mariela Castro, daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro, who is director of the National Sex Education Center.
Castro is internationally recognized for her successful effort to overcome resistance to offering sex education in Cuban schools and her current attempt to have gay marriage legalized in Cuba. About 500, including many medical students, attended the forum at the Medical University of Cienfuegos. We were part of a group of 15 who came with the “Gender and Health Care” program offered by Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba (MEDICC). [1]
The day before, we had traveled to Cienfuegos by bus from Havana and were greeted by initial celebrations against homophobia. They included five “social network workshops.” Our group broke up and picked workgroups based on our interests: Gay Men, Men and Diversity, Lesbians, Youth or Transgender.
The Men and Diversity workshop had been going on for a few minutes when we walked in. The group leader wrote on a large tablet while group members shared stories of victimization as gay individuals in Cuba. The group of about 40 related how they had been rejected, ignored, ridiculed or attacked. We then divided into smaller groups to prepare skits role-playing hostility against gays expressed at home, work, education or in the media. Group members willingly and eagerly expressed themselves. They were also learning how to run workshops in their own towns as a means of helping others articulate their feelings and share their experiences.
In some ways, the workshops were much like those in the US. Even though it was hard to follow the fast-paced and word-clipping Cuban Spanish, it was clear that an emotional intensity pervaded the room. Every lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Cuban knows of the years 1965–68 when homosexuals were grouped with counterrevolutionaries and sent to obligatory work duty with UMAP (Military Units to Assist Production). Although the practice faded out by the 1980s and the massive HIV education campaigns in the 1990s treated homosexuality as a fact of life, the scars remain.
March Against Homophobia
May 17 began with the “March Against Homophobia” down Cienfuegos’ beautifully historic Paseo del Prado. Just before it started, a British TV crew interviewed our MEDICC coordinator, Anna Dorman. Several in our group recognized Mariela Castro and went to have their photos taken with her. While walking over to lead the parade, she motioned to Dale Mitchell (director of a Jamaica Plain agency which provides services to elders in their homes) and Barbara Chicherio (president of the Green Party USA). They were among those who joined her in holding the multi-colored gay banner at the head of the march, which seemed to stop at every other corner for press photos.
Two of the 1000 marchers towered on stilts above the rest. Soon, we were not just walking but chanting and dancing down Paseo del Prado, accompanied by drums and trumpets. A few wore bright pink shirts. Others sported t-shirts with a double male insignia.
One man who must have been 70 or 80 was overjoyed that Americans were a part of Cuba’s gay rights parade. With perfect English and only a slight accent, he said that he had fought with the US Army in the Korean War.
There were at least as many onlookers as marchers. Many had a very doubtful, almost frowning look; but faces often turned to smiles as they waved to a marcher they knew. Not everyone smiled, though. Some were heard to make comments like “Why do they bring this crap here?” “Damn queers,” and “They will make our city look dirty.”
The contradiction between past and present, between government policy and social reality left a deep impression on those who participated. Our MEDICC translator, Georgina (“Yoyi”) Gómez Tablo, said “This is important to me — my best friend died of AIDS. This shows we are doing something right. It makes me proud of being Cuban. It is so good to be part of a large group in favor of human rights.”
The MEDICC medical consultant, Maricela Torres Esperón, added “There is a tradition of machismo not just in Cuba but in all of Latin America. People should not be defined by their sexual orientation. I am glad that the government was in favor of the demonstration.”
It is a time of tremendous social transformation which could make Cuba a model for all of Latin America. As Anna Dorman observed, “It is so powerful to be a part of something at a time when the culture is in transition. It is inspiring to see Cubans taking on the liberation of gays and we are here participating with them.”
