LGBT rights in Cuba
Encyclopedia
Private, non-commercial sexual relations between same-sex consenting adult 16 and over have been legal in Cuba
since 1979, although same-sex relationship
s are not presently recognized by the state as a possible marriage. Despite elements of homophobia in Cuba's history, Havana
now has a lively and vibrant gay scene.
Public antipathy towards LGBT people is high, reflecting regional norms. This has eased somewhat since the 1990s. Educational campaigns on LGBT issues are currently implemented by the National Center for Sex Education, headed by Mariela Castro
.
Cuban citizens can have sex reassignment surgery
for free.
, marriage is restricted to the union of a man and a woman. No alternative to marriage such as civil union
s or domestic partnership
s is currently available. Attempts to present several favorable measures to Cuba's parliament for the LGBT community, including the legalization of same sex unions, have thus far been unsuccessful.
had been prohibited until reforms by Raúl Castro
.
The Cuban National Center for Sex Education
is presently proposing a law that would legalize sex reassignment surgery
and hormonal therapy in addition to granting them new identification documents with their changed gender. A draft bill was presented to the Cuban National Assembly in 2005. It was expected to come up for a vote in December 2006, but as of February 2008 the bill has yet to pass. Caribbeannetnews.com suggests that "the bill would make Cuba the most liberal nation in Latin America on gender issues".
Since June 2008, Cubans have been able to have a sex change operation for free. This was one of the changes since Raúl Castro
took over. In January 2010 Cuba began offering state-sponsored gender reassignment surgeries.
All HIV infected people are asked to attend a program called 'Living with HIV'. This program used to be held in the treatment centers, but is now mostly in the outpatient system, and assisted by peer educators, who are mostly HIV positive people. During the program patients are monitored to see if they are ‘trustworthy’ – that is, sexually responsible, and if their diet, self-care and medication is adequate. They are asked to disclose the names of any sexual partners from the last 5 years. Those sexual partners are then traced and tested for HIV. Certain groups are targeted for testing (HIV positive sexual contacts, blood donors, pregnant women, people with STDs). All testing is voluntary, but strongly encouraged amongst the target groups. All HIV+ patients retain their job entitlements and 100% of their salary, when they have to be absent from work. The stated aim of the program is to reintegrate all patients in their normal lives, and prevent discrimination or social rejection. Homophobia is recognized as a problem in Cuba, and is addressed through the HIV program (including school classes which begin at year 5 or 6) as well as through the National Center for Sex Education. This education program includes posters, pamphlets and even a television soap opera which features gay, bisexual and HIV+ people in the family.
Cuba has undertaken extensive campaigns against HIV/AIDS focusing on education and treatment, and in 2003 Cuba had the lowest HIV prevalence in the Americas and one of the lowest ratios in the world. According to the Cuban National Centre for Prevention of STDs and HIV/AIDS (November 2005) there were 5,422 persons living with HIV (3,968) or AIDS (1,454). 85% of these were homosexual or bisexual men (HSH – hombres que tienen sexo con hombres).
Since 1996 Cuba has produced generic versions of some of the common anti-retroviral therapy (ART) drugs. These drugs were in short supply and imports were very expensive in the 1990s. However, since 2001, 100% of Cuban HIV+ patients have had access to a relatively full cocktail of HAART (highly active anti-retroviral therapy), free of charge. The death rate from HIV infection has been falling rapidly since then, and most HIV+ infected Cubans are avoiding opportunistic infections.
from its criminal code
, but "public scandal" laws sentenced those who "publicly flaunted their homosexual condition" with three months to one year in prison (Article 359 of the 1979 Penal Code). The 1979 penal code also categorized "homosexual acts in public, or in private but exposed to being involuntarily seen by other people" as "crimes against the normal development of sexual relations." A reform of the penal code in 1988 instead imposed fines on those who "hassle others with homosexual demands" (Article 303a, Act 62 of the Penal Code of 30 April 1988]), and then in 1997 the language was modified to "hassling with sexual demands" and the phrase "public scandal" changed to "sexual insult".
Enforcement of public decency laws anywhere in the world is typically varied, as they may be interpreted broadly by police. For example, in England and France, when laws against sodomy
were struck from the statutes, prosecutions of homosexual men increased for some time under public decency laws. In China they have been the main legal means of persecuting homosexuals.
reported that "Cuban police have once again launched a campaign against homosexuals, specifically directed at travestis (tranvestites) whom they are arresting if they are dressed in women's clothing." This follows from reports in 2001 of a police campaign against homosexuals and transvestites, who police prevented from meeting in the street and fined, closing down meeting places.
According to a Human Rights Watch
report, "the government also heightened harassment of homosexuals [in 1997], raiding several nightclubs known to have gay clientele and allegedly beating and detaining dozens of patrons."
(2003), the Cuban government prohibits LGBT organizations and publications, gay pride marches and gay clubs. All officially sanctioned clubs and meeting places are required to be heterosexual. The only gay and lesbian civil rights
organization, the Cuban Association of Gays and Lesbians, which formed in 1994, was closed in 1997 and its members were taken into custody. Private gay parties, named for their price of admission, "10 Pesos", exist but are often raided. In 1997, Agencia de Prensa Independiente de Cuba (the Cuban Independent Press Agency) reported, that Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar
and French designer Jean Paul Gaultier were among several hundred people detained in a raid on Havana's most popular gay discothèque, El Periquiton. In a U.S. Government report reprinted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Cuban customers of the club were fined and released from a police station the next day, although according to a 1997 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, many of the detainees claimed physical abuse and that two busloads of foreigners were transported to immigration authorities for a document check. The crackdown extended to other known gay meeting places throughout the capital, such as Mi Cayito, a beach east of Havana, where gays were arrested, fined or threatened with imprisonment. According to Miami's El Nuevo Herald, several of the dozen or so private gay clubs in Havana have been raided, including, Jurassic Park and Fiestas de Serrano y Correa.
for the Latin America and Caribbean Region, visited Cuba in 2004 to participate in the Third Hemispheric Meeting Against the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas
). While there, he also made some enquiries into the status of lesbians and gays in the country. In particular, he asked the Cuban government why they had abstained from the vote on the "Brazilian Resolution
", a 2003 proposal to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
which would symbolically recognise the "occurrence of violations of human rights in the world against persons on the grounds of their sexual orientation." The government justified their abstention by arguing that the resolution could be used to attack and isolate "Arab countries", consistent with US aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq. However, the US also abstained from the LGBT rights vote.
Sanchez also wanted to ascertain the possibility of creating a lesbian and gay organization in Cuba. They responded that the formation of an LGBT association would "distract attention" from national security.
Sanchez also met with some local lesbians and gays while there, and he reported the following observations:
Laws made it illegal to be gay and police targeted homosexuals for harassment. Many gay men were drawn into prostitution for largely US-based clients. In this repressive atmosphere, homosexuality was linked to prostitution, gambling and crime.
, Cuba's communist government embarked upon a pervasive effort to rid the nation of homosexuality, which was seen as a product of a capitalist society. Through the 1960s and 1970s this campaign included the frequent imprisonment of lesbians and gays (particularly effeminate males) without charge or trial, and confinement to forced labor camp
s. This period was dramatically documented by the 1980s documentary "Improper Conduct
", Reinaldo Arenas
in his 1992 autobiography, Before Night Falls
, as well as his fiction, most notably The Color of Summer and Farewell to the Sea
. The criminal laws against homosexuality were gradually liberalized, starting in 1979.
Cuban society has become more welcoming to gays and lesbians since the 1980s, and toward the end of the decade, literature with gay subject matter began to re-emerge. In 1994, the popular feature film Strawberry and Chocolate, produced by the government-run Cuban film industry
, featuring a gay main character, examined the nation's homophobia. The year prior to the film's release, Fidel Castro
stated that homosexuality is a "natural aspect and tendency of human beings", and gay author Ian Lumsden
claims that since 1986 there is "little evidence to support the contention that the persecution of homosexuals remains a matter of state policy". However, the state's treatment of homosexuals remains a subject of controversy, and like other subjects relating to Cuba, the accounts of supporters of the Castro government are often quite different from those of its opponents. In 2006, the state run Cuban television began running a serial soap opera
titled The Dark Side of the Moon with story lines that focus on HIV infection and AIDS. Cuban gays describe a narrative in this soap opera capturing one character's sexual awakening as a pivotal moment in Cuba's long history of discrimination against homosexuals.
and the Catholic Church have disdained effeminate and sexually passive males for centuries. Barbara Weinstein
, professor of Latin American history at the University of Maryland and co-editor of the Hispanic American Historical Review, claimed that the Cuban revolution had "a stronger sense of masculinity than other revolutions." Cuban gay writer Reinaldo Arenas
wrote that in Communist Cuba, "the 'new man' was being proclaimed and masculinity exalted."
According to secondary sources, Fidel Castro has made insulting comments towards homosexuality. Castro's admiring description of rural life in Cuba ("in the country, there are no homosexuals") reflected the idea of homosexuality as bourgeois decadence, and he denounced "maricones" (faggots) as "agents of imperialism". Castro explained his reasoning in a 1965 interview:
However, in his autobiography My Life, Castro has criticized the "machismo" culture of Cuba and urged for the acceptance of homosexuality. Furthermore, he has made several long speeches to the public regarding discrimination of homosexuals.
Many gays were attracted to the socialist promise of an egalitarian society; some of them important figures among the left-wing intelligentsia, such as the writers for the popular journal Lunes de Revolución.
(Unidades Militares de Ayuda a la Producción) program sent countless gays (particularly effeminate males) to labor camps for "rehabilitation" and "re-education", without charge or trial. Even after the end of the UMAP programs, effeminate boys were forced to undergo aversion therapy. A 1984 documentary, Improper Conduct
, interviewed several men who had been sent there. In his autobiography, My Life, Castro claims the internment camps were used in lieu of the mistreatment homosexuals were receiving in the military during the Angolan War. They would do laborious tasks and be housed roughly, but some saw it as better than joining the Cuban military as they would often still be publicly humiliated and discharged by homophobic elements.
, in the war, in policy questions." Castro personally believed that the negative treatment of gays in Cuba arose out of the country's pre-revolutionary attitudes toward homosexuality.
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
since 1979, although same-sex relationship
Same-sex relationship
A same-sex relationship is a relationship between two persons of the same sex and can take many forms, from romantic and sexual, to non-romantic close relationships. The term is mainly associated with gay and lesbian people...
s are not presently recognized by the state as a possible marriage. Despite elements of homophobia in Cuba's history, Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
now has a lively and vibrant gay scene.
Public antipathy towards LGBT people is high, reflecting regional norms. This has eased somewhat since the 1990s. Educational campaigns on LGBT issues are currently implemented by the National Center for Sex Education, headed by Mariela Castro
Mariela Castro
Mariela Castro Espín is the director of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education in Havana and an activist for LGBT rights in Cuba....
.
Cuban citizens can have sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery is a term for the surgical procedures by which a person's physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble...
for free.
Same-sex unions
Article 36 of the Constitution of Cuba defines marriage as 'the voluntarily established union between a man and a woman' Under Article 2 of the Family CodeCuban Law
The substantive and procedural laws of Cuba were later based on the Spanish Civil laws and were influenced by the principles of Marxism-Leninism after that philosophy became the guiding force of government.- Principle of equality :...
, marriage is restricted to the union of a man and a woman. No alternative to marriage such as civil union
Civil union
A civil union, also referred to as a civil partnership, is a legally recognized form of partnership similar to marriage. Beginning with Denmark in 1989, civil unions under one name or another have been established by law in many developed countries in order to provide same-sex couples rights,...
s or domestic partnership
Domestic partnership
A domestic partnership is a legal or personal relationship between two individuals who live together and share a common domestic life but are neither joined by marriage nor a civil union...
s is currently available. Attempts to present several favorable measures to Cuba's parliament for the LGBT community, including the legalization of same sex unions, have thus far been unsuccessful.
Sex change operations and hormonal therapy
Sex reassignment surgeriesSex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery is a term for the surgical procedures by which a person's physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble...
had been prohibited until reforms by Raúl Castro
Raúl Castro
Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz is a Cuban politician and revolutionary who has been President of the Council of State of Cuba and the President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba since 2008; he previously exercised presidential powers in an acting capacity from 2006 to 2008...
.
The Cuban National Center for Sex Education
Cuban National Center for Sex Education
The National Center for Sex Education is a government-funded body in Cuba. The center is best known for advocating tolerance of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and transgender issues on the island...
is presently proposing a law that would legalize sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery is a term for the surgical procedures by which a person's physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble...
and hormonal therapy in addition to granting them new identification documents with their changed gender. A draft bill was presented to the Cuban National Assembly in 2005. It was expected to come up for a vote in December 2006, but as of February 2008 the bill has yet to pass. Caribbeannetnews.com suggests that "the bill would make Cuba the most liberal nation in Latin America on gender issues".
Since June 2008, Cubans have been able to have a sex change operation for free. This was one of the changes since Raúl Castro
Raúl Castro
Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz is a Cuban politician and revolutionary who has been President of the Council of State of Cuba and the President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba since 2008; he previously exercised presidential powers in an acting capacity from 2006 to 2008...
took over. In January 2010 Cuba began offering state-sponsored gender reassignment surgeries.
HIV and AIDS
From 1986 until 1989, HIV+ Cubans were quarantined to treatment centers (sanatorios). Most of the early HIV patients were heterosexual aid workers, returning from other developing countries. The quarantine system was relaxed in 1989, to allow travel between home and the treatment centers. In 1993, an outpatient program (el sistema ambulatoria) was set up which since the early 2000s contains the vast majority of HIV patients. By the early to mid 1990s, homosexual and bisexual men became the majority of Cuban HIV patients. The treatment centers (sanatorios) are still open for those who prefer them to living at home.All HIV infected people are asked to attend a program called 'Living with HIV'. This program used to be held in the treatment centers, but is now mostly in the outpatient system, and assisted by peer educators, who are mostly HIV positive people. During the program patients are monitored to see if they are ‘trustworthy’ – that is, sexually responsible, and if their diet, self-care and medication is adequate. They are asked to disclose the names of any sexual partners from the last 5 years. Those sexual partners are then traced and tested for HIV. Certain groups are targeted for testing (HIV positive sexual contacts, blood donors, pregnant women, people with STDs). All testing is voluntary, but strongly encouraged amongst the target groups. All HIV+ patients retain their job entitlements and 100% of their salary, when they have to be absent from work. The stated aim of the program is to reintegrate all patients in their normal lives, and prevent discrimination or social rejection. Homophobia is recognized as a problem in Cuba, and is addressed through the HIV program (including school classes which begin at year 5 or 6) as well as through the National Center for Sex Education. This education program includes posters, pamphlets and even a television soap opera which features gay, bisexual and HIV+ people in the family.
Cuba has undertaken extensive campaigns against HIV/AIDS focusing on education and treatment, and in 2003 Cuba had the lowest HIV prevalence in the Americas and one of the lowest ratios in the world. According to the Cuban National Centre for Prevention of STDs and HIV/AIDS (November 2005) there were 5,422 persons living with HIV (3,968) or AIDS (1,454). 85% of these were homosexual or bisexual men (HSH – hombres que tienen sexo con hombres).
Since 1996 Cuba has produced generic versions of some of the common anti-retroviral therapy (ART) drugs. These drugs were in short supply and imports were very expensive in the 1990s. However, since 2001, 100% of Cuban HIV+ patients have had access to a relatively full cocktail of HAART (highly active anti-retroviral therapy), free of charge. The death rate from HIV infection has been falling rapidly since then, and most HIV+ infected Cubans are avoiding opportunistic infections.
Public decency laws
In 1979, Cuba removed sodomySodomy
Sodomy is an anal or other copulation-like act, especially between male persons or between a man and animal, and one who practices sodomy is a "sodomite"...
from its criminal code
Criminal Code
A criminal code is a document which compiles all, or a significant amount of, a particular jurisdiction's criminal law...
, but "public scandal" laws sentenced those who "publicly flaunted their homosexual condition" with three months to one year in prison (Article 359 of the 1979 Penal Code). The 1979 penal code also categorized "homosexual acts in public, or in private but exposed to being involuntarily seen by other people" as "crimes against the normal development of sexual relations." A reform of the penal code in 1988 instead imposed fines on those who "hassle others with homosexual demands" (Article 303a, Act 62 of the Penal Code of 30 April 1988]), and then in 1997 the language was modified to "hassling with sexual demands" and the phrase "public scandal" changed to "sexual insult".
Enforcement of public decency laws anywhere in the world is typically varied, as they may be interpreted broadly by police. For example, in England and France, when laws against sodomy
Sodomy
Sodomy is an anal or other copulation-like act, especially between male persons or between a man and animal, and one who practices sodomy is a "sodomite"...
were struck from the statutes, prosecutions of homosexual men increased for some time under public decency laws. In China they have been the main legal means of persecuting homosexuals.
Recent crackdowns
In 2004, the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
reported that "Cuban police have once again launched a campaign against homosexuals, specifically directed at travestis (tranvestites) whom they are arresting if they are dressed in women's clothing." This follows from reports in 2001 of a police campaign against homosexuals and transvestites, who police prevented from meeting in the street and fined, closing down meeting places.
According to a Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
report, "the government also heightened harassment of homosexuals [in 1997], raiding several nightclubs known to have gay clientele and allegedly beating and detaining dozens of patrons."
Freedom of association
According to the World Policy InstituteWorld Policy Institute
The World Policy Institute, a non-partisan policy institute which claims to develop policies that require a progressive ideology. WPI focuses on cooperative policies in order to achieve : an inclusive and sustainable global market economy, engaged global civic participation and effective...
(2003), the Cuban government prohibits LGBT organizations and publications, gay pride marches and gay clubs. All officially sanctioned clubs and meeting places are required to be heterosexual. The only gay and lesbian civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
organization, the Cuban Association of Gays and Lesbians, which formed in 1994, was closed in 1997 and its members were taken into custody. Private gay parties, named for their price of admission, "10 Pesos", exist but are often raided. In 1997, Agencia de Prensa Independiente de Cuba (the Cuban Independent Press Agency) reported, that Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar Caballero is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.Almodóvar is arguably the most successful and internationally known Spanish filmmaker of his generation. His films, marked by complex narratives, employ the codes of melodrama and use elements of pop culture, popular...
and French designer Jean Paul Gaultier were among several hundred people detained in a raid on Havana's most popular gay discothèque, El Periquiton. In a U.S. Government report reprinted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Cuban customers of the club were fined and released from a police station the next day, although according to a 1997 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, many of the detainees claimed physical abuse and that two busloads of foreigners were transported to immigration authorities for a document check. The crackdown extended to other known gay meeting places throughout the capital, such as Mi Cayito, a beach east of Havana, where gays were arrested, fined or threatened with imprisonment. According to Miami's El Nuevo Herald, several of the dozen or so private gay clubs in Havana have been raided, including, Jurassic Park and Fiestas de Serrano y Correa.
Sanchez visit 2004
Carlos Sanchez, the male representative of the International Lesbian and Gay AssociationInternational Lesbian and Gay Association
The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association is an international organization bringing together more than 750 LGBTI groups from around the world. It continues to be active in campaigning for LGBT rights on the international human rights and civil rights scene and...
for the Latin America and Caribbean Region, visited Cuba in 2004 to participate in the Third Hemispheric Meeting Against the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas
Free Trade Area of the Americas
The Free Trade Area of the Americas , , ) was a proposed agreement to eliminate or reduce the trade barriers among all countries in the Americas but Cuba. In the last round of negotiations, trade ministers from 34 countries met in Miami, United States, in November 2003 to discuss the proposal...
). While there, he also made some enquiries into the status of lesbians and gays in the country. In particular, he asked the Cuban government why they had abstained from the vote on the "Brazilian Resolution
Brazilian Resolution
The Brazilian resolution was presented to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations in 2003.The resolution covered human rights and sexual orientation...
", a 2003 proposal to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
United Nations Commission on Human Rights
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights was a functional commission within the overall framework of the United Nations from 1946 until it was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006...
which would symbolically recognise the "occurrence of violations of human rights in the world against persons on the grounds of their sexual orientation." The government justified their abstention by arguing that the resolution could be used to attack and isolate "Arab countries", consistent with US aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq. However, the US also abstained from the LGBT rights vote.
Sanchez also wanted to ascertain the possibility of creating a lesbian and gay organization in Cuba. They responded that the formation of an LGBT association would "distract attention" from national security.
Sanchez also met with some local lesbians and gays while there, and he reported the following observations:
- There are no legal sanctions against LGBT people.
- People are afraid of meeting and organizing themselves. It is mainly based on their experience in previous years, but one can assume that this feeling will disappear in the future if lesbians and gays start to work and keep working and eventually get support from the government. (The National Center for Sexual Education is offering this support).
- "Transformismo" (Drag performanceDrag queenA drag queen is a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining. There are many kinds of drag artists and they vary greatly, from professionals who have starred in films to people who just try it once. Drag queens also vary by class and culture and...
) is well accepted by the majority of the Cuban population - There is indeed a change in the way people view homosexuality, but this does not mean the end of discrimination and homophobia. The population is just more tolerant with lesbians and homosexuals.
- Lesbians and gays do not consider fighting for the right to marriage, because that institution in Cuba does not have the same value that it has in other countries. Unmarried and married people enjoy equal rights.
Pre-Revolution
Pre-revolutionary Cuba was no paradise for gays and lesbians. There were gay bars where homosexual men could meet, but to be a maricón (faggot) was to be a social outcast.Laws made it illegal to be gay and police targeted homosexuals for harassment. Many gay men were drawn into prostitution for largely US-based clients. In this repressive atmosphere, homosexuality was linked to prostitution, gambling and crime.
Post revolution Cuba
Following the 1959 revolutionCuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
, Cuba's communist government embarked upon a pervasive effort to rid the nation of homosexuality, which was seen as a product of a capitalist society. Through the 1960s and 1970s this campaign included the frequent imprisonment of lesbians and gays (particularly effeminate males) without charge or trial, and confinement to forced labor camp
Labor camp
A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons...
s. This period was dramatically documented by the 1980s documentary "Improper Conduct
Improper Conduct
Mauvaise Conduite or Improper Conduct is a 1984 documentary film directed by Néstor Almendros and Orlando Jiménez Leal. The documentary interviews Cuban refugees to explore the Cuban government's imprisonment of homosexuals, political dissidents, and Jehovah's Witnesses into concentration camps...
", Reinaldo Arenas
Reinaldo Arenas
Reinaldo Arenas was a Cuban poet, novelist, and playwright who despite his early sympathy for the 1959 revolution, grew critical of and then rebelled against the Cuban government.- Life :...
in his 1992 autobiography, Before Night Falls
Before Night Falls
Before Night Falls is the 1992 autobiography of Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas, describing his life in Cuba, his time in prison, and his ultimate escape to the United States. It was on The New York Times list of the ten best books of the year 1993...
, as well as his fiction, most notably The Color of Summer and Farewell to the Sea
Farewell to the Sea
Published in 1987, Farewell to the Sea is the third book in Reinaldo Arenas' Pentagonia which critics have often argued as his best. Set on a Cuban beach immediately following the revolution, a disenchanted poet mourns for the new suppression while his wife longs for the connectivity that she can...
. The criminal laws against homosexuality were gradually liberalized, starting in 1979.
Cuban society has become more welcoming to gays and lesbians since the 1980s, and toward the end of the decade, literature with gay subject matter began to re-emerge. In 1994, the popular feature film Strawberry and Chocolate, produced by the government-run Cuban film industry
Cinema of Cuba
Cinema arrived in Cuba at the beginning of the 20th century. Before the Cuban Revolution of 1959, about 80 full-length films were produced in Cuba. Most of these films were melodramas...
, featuring a gay main character, examined the nation's homophobia. The year prior to the film's release, Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
stated that homosexuality is a "natural aspect and tendency of human beings", and gay author Ian Lumsden
Ian Lumsden
Ian James Michael Lumsden is a former Scottish rugby union international.Lumsden, a full-back and occasional fly half, was capped seven times in Tests for Scotland. These appearances came in both the 1947 and 1949 Five Nations Championships.He also played first-class cricket with the Scottish...
claims that since 1986 there is "little evidence to support the contention that the persecution of homosexuals remains a matter of state policy". However, the state's treatment of homosexuals remains a subject of controversy, and like other subjects relating to Cuba, the accounts of supporters of the Castro government are often quite different from those of its opponents. In 2006, the state run Cuban television began running a serial soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
titled The Dark Side of the Moon with story lines that focus on HIV infection and AIDS. Cuban gays describe a narrative in this soap opera capturing one character's sexual awakening as a pivotal moment in Cuba's long history of discrimination against homosexuals.
Cuban socialism and masculinity
Traditional Spanish machismoMachismo
Machismo, or machoism, is a word of Spanish and Portuguese origin that describes prominently exhibited or excessive masculinity. As an attitude, machismo ranges from a personal sense of virility to a more extreme male chauvinism...
and the Catholic Church have disdained effeminate and sexually passive males for centuries. Barbara Weinstein
Barbara Weinstein
Barbara Weinstein is a diver from Michigan, United States. She won a gold medal in platform diving at the 1979 Pan American Games.She was selected to represent United States at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, but did not go because of the boycott.-References:...
, professor of Latin American history at the University of Maryland and co-editor of the Hispanic American Historical Review, claimed that the Cuban revolution had "a stronger sense of masculinity than other revolutions." Cuban gay writer Reinaldo Arenas
Reinaldo Arenas
Reinaldo Arenas was a Cuban poet, novelist, and playwright who despite his early sympathy for the 1959 revolution, grew critical of and then rebelled against the Cuban government.- Life :...
wrote that in Communist Cuba, "the 'new man' was being proclaimed and masculinity exalted."
According to secondary sources, Fidel Castro has made insulting comments towards homosexuality. Castro's admiring description of rural life in Cuba ("in the country, there are no homosexuals") reflected the idea of homosexuality as bourgeois decadence, and he denounced "maricones" (faggots) as "agents of imperialism". Castro explained his reasoning in a 1965 interview:
However, in his autobiography My Life, Castro has criticized the "machismo" culture of Cuba and urged for the acceptance of homosexuality. Furthermore, he has made several long speeches to the public regarding discrimination of homosexuals.
Many gays were attracted to the socialist promise of an egalitarian society; some of them important figures among the left-wing intelligentsia, such as the writers for the popular journal Lunes de Revolución.
UMAP labor camps
A couple of years after Castro's rise to power, however, Lunes de Revolución was closed down amidst a wave of media censorship; its gay writers were publicly disgraced, refused publication and dismissed from their jobs. In the mid-1960s, the country-wide UMAPMilitary Units to Aid Production
Military Units to Aid Production or UMAP’s were allegedly established by the Cuban government in 1965 as a way to eliminate "bourgeois" and "counter-revolutionary" values in the Cuban population, in particular, among those who neglected taking part in the military service or who had been rejected...
(Unidades Militares de Ayuda a la Producción) program sent countless gays (particularly effeminate males) to labor camps for "rehabilitation" and "re-education", without charge or trial. Even after the end of the UMAP programs, effeminate boys were forced to undergo aversion therapy. A 1984 documentary, Improper Conduct
Improper Conduct
Mauvaise Conduite or Improper Conduct is a 1984 documentary film directed by Néstor Almendros and Orlando Jiménez Leal. The documentary interviews Cuban refugees to explore the Cuban government's imprisonment of homosexuals, political dissidents, and Jehovah's Witnesses into concentration camps...
, interviewed several men who had been sent there. In his autobiography, My Life, Castro claims the internment camps were used in lieu of the mistreatment homosexuals were receiving in the military during the Angolan War. They would do laborious tasks and be housed roughly, but some saw it as better than joining the Cuban military as they would often still be publicly humiliated and discharged by homophobic elements.
Castro takes responsibility
In a 2010 interview with Mexican newspaper La Jornada, the former president of Cuba, Fidel Castro, called the persecution of homosexuals whilst he was in power "a great injustice, great injustice!" Taking responsibility for the persecution, he said, "If anyone is responsible, it's me... We had so many and such terrible problems, problems of life or death. In those moments I was not able to deal with that matter [of homosexuals]. I found myself immersed, principally, in the Crisis of OctoberCuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
, in the war, in policy questions." Castro personally believed that the negative treatment of gays in Cuba arose out of the country's pre-revolutionary attitudes toward homosexuality.
Films
- Lizette Vila's documentary filmDocumentary filmDocumentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
s, Y hembra es el alma mía (1992) and Sexualidad: un derecho a la vida (2004), profile the lives of Cuban male-to-female transsexuals and travestis. - Mauvaise Conduite or Improper ConductImproper ConductMauvaise Conduite or Improper Conduct is a 1984 documentary film directed by Néstor Almendros and Orlando Jiménez Leal. The documentary interviews Cuban refugees to explore the Cuban government's imprisonment of homosexuals, political dissidents, and Jehovah's Witnesses into concentration camps...
a 1984 documentary film directed by Néstor AlmendrosNéstor AlmendrosNéstor Almendros, ASC was an Oscar winning Spanish cinematographer. One of the highest appraised contemporary cinematographers, "Almendros was an artist of deep integrity, who believed the most beautiful light was natural light...he will always be remembered as a cinematographer of absolute...
and Orlando Jiménez Leal about the UMAP labor camps. - Before Night FallsBefore Night Falls (film)Before Night Falls is a 2000 film directed by Julian Schnabel. The screenplay is based on the autobiography of the same name of Reinaldo Arenas, which was published in English in 1993. The screenplay was written by Schnabel, Cunningham O'Keefe, and Lázaro Gómez Carriles...
(2000), directed by Julian SchnabelJulian SchnabelJulian Schnabel is an American artist and filmmaker. In the 1980s, Schnabel received international media attention for his "plate paintings"—large-scale paintings set on broken ceramic plates....
, is based on the autobiography of Reinaldo ArenasReinaldo ArenasReinaldo Arenas was a Cuban poet, novelist, and playwright who despite his early sympathy for the 1959 revolution, grew critical of and then rebelled against the Cuban government.- Life :...
by the same name. - Fresa y Chocolate, (Strawberry and ChocolateStrawberry and ChocolateStrawberry and Chocolate is a Cuban-Spanish-Mexican co-produced film, directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío, based on the short story "The Wolf, The Forest and the New Man" written by Senel Paz in 1990. Senel Paz also wrote the screenplay for the film.- Plot :The story takes...
, 1993) directed by Tomás Gutiérrez AleaTomás Gutiérrez AleaTomás Gutiérrez Alea was a Cuban filmmaker. He wrote and directed more than 20 features, documentaries, and short films, which are known for his sharp insight into post-Revolutionary Cuba, and possess a delicate balance between dedication to the revolution and criticism of the social, economic,...
and Juan Carlos Tabío, focuses on a conflicted relationship between a committed Marxist student and a flamboyantly gay artist. It was the first Cuban film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.
Books
- Furia del Discurso Humano (The Fury of Human Discourse) is a novel by Miguel Correa Mujica, the celebrated author of Al Norte del Infierno, that addresses the topic of persecution of homosexuals in Cuba.
See also
- Human rights in CubaHuman rights in CubaHuman Rights Watch is among international human rights organizations accusing the Cuban government of systematic human rights abuses, including torture, arbitrary imprisonment, unfair trials, and extrajudicial execution....
- Socialism and LGBT rightsSocialism and LGBT rightsThe connection between left-leaning ideologies and LGBT rights has a long and mixed history. Some socialists and members of other left wing political ideologies have supported LGBT rights, while many Marxist/Socialist regimes including the USSR, People's Republic of China, North Korea, Cuba, and...
- Improper ConductImproper ConductMauvaise Conduite or Improper Conduct is a 1984 documentary film directed by Néstor Almendros and Orlando Jiménez Leal. The documentary interviews Cuban refugees to explore the Cuban government's imprisonment of homosexuals, political dissidents, and Jehovah's Witnesses into concentration camps...
(1984 documentary on the prison camps for gays and other dissidents) - Mariela CastroMariela CastroMariela Castro Espín is the director of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education in Havana and an activist for LGBT rights in Cuba....
, Cuban LGBT-rights activist, daughter of Raúl CastroRaúl CastroRaúl Modesto Castro Ruz is a Cuban politician and revolutionary who has been President of the Council of State of Cuba and the President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba since 2008; he previously exercised presidential powers in an acting capacity from 2006 to 2008...
and niece of Fidel - Women in CubaWomen in CubaIn Cuba women have equal constitutional rights as men in the economic, political, cultural and social fields, as well as in the family. According to article 44 of the Cuban Constitution, the state guarantees women the same opportunities and possibilities as men, in order to achieve woman’s full...
- LGBT rights in the AmericasLGBT rights in the AmericasLesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights are complex in the Americas. The British, French, Spanish and Portuguese colonists, who settled most of the Americas, brought Christianity from Europe...
External links
- Gay Rights in Cuba Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 181 October/November 2004
- Homosexuality in Cuba: Revolution within the Revolution, Jo Ellis, Green Left.News, 4 July 1999
- What is the status of homosexuals in Cuba? U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
- Gay Cuba 1997-2003 Stories about gay Cuba 1997-2003
- Our Secrets Are Safe Tonight A look at the underground gay scene in Havana, Cuba in 2006
- A Rainbow Flag Over Habana by Marina Sitrin, Upside Down World, 28 May 2009
- In Paying for Sex Changes, Cuba Breaks from Past by Will Weissert, Washington Post, 10 March 2010