Mariela Castro Espin is a 47 year old LGBTQ rights activist working in Cuba. She also happens to be the daughter of Raul Castro and the neice of Fidel Castro.  Although many associate Raul and Fidel Castro with the persecution of the LGBTQ population that occured shortly afte rthe Cuba revolution, Mariela Castro is fighting for a new Cuba.

Although it is great that public figures like Mariela Castro are fighting for the LGBTQ community in Cuba, it is quite depressing that there are still young gay people in Cuba that can not speak out like Mariela Castro. They do not have the protections and privelege that her last name affords her and would likely be prosecuted for even coming out. These are young men such as Damian who was profiled in a Youth Radio peice by Rachel Krantz called "Young and Gay in Cuba." Rachel did excellent journalism with this peice and I can not say how moved I was by Damian's story and that of other gay Cuban's like him. When you read his story below it is hard not to make connections between the repression that he faced and that of Reinaldo Arenas almost 30 years ago: 

"Donde esta la fiesta?"

You always call the same phone number to find the party. When someone answers the phone, you always ask the same question:

The answer is an address--sometimes familiar, sometimes a new location. But without fail, every weekend, some sort of secret gay party is thrown in Havana, Cuba.

One Friday in Havana, my friend Damian agrees to take me to one. Damian is 23-years-old, Cuban, a filmmaker, and gay. With medium brown skin and a wide, knowing smile, Damian charms most people he meets. Although he only wanted his first name used for print, Damian is open when he talks about what it's like to be young and gay in Cuba.

"The hardest thing is finding a place to have safe sex," Damian says. "It's hard for everyone, but straight guys, they could bring a girlfriend home. I couldn't do that, of course not. My mom doesn't let me, it's forbidden."

Here in the US I recognize all the privilege that I have as a hetero-identifying young person to marry, adopt children, hospital visit benefits and the other benefits that come with legal heterosexual marriage in the U.S.. I sometimes forget the struggles and tribulations of the international LGBTQ community and the often legally sanctioned and sometimes deadly discrimination that they face from death penalites for homosexuality or jail time. It is nice to know that there are people out there like Mariela Castro fighting for LGBTQ rights and empowerment in lower income countries.

Through her organization CENESEX, Mariela Castro has been pushing for increasing sex education, recognition of homosexuality, sexual and gender minorities within the Cuban political and social discourse. In a recent interview with the Havana Times, Mariela Castro explained her views:

IPS [Havana Times Interviewer]: In 2004 you met with a group of transvestites and transsexuals who were seeking assistance. Today you are recognized as the initiator of a set of reforms in support of the right to sexual diversity in Cuba. Were you always understanding of differences?

 

MARIELA CASTRO ESPIN: It was part of a process of becoming conscious as a Cuban citizen who looked at reality, listened and questioned. Life in this country has taught me not to be a simple interpreter of reality, but to be part of it, to participate, to even try to change what I don’t like or what I believe should just be changed.

Well recently Mariela Castro has won another victory in her fight for increased rights for the LGBTQ community, the Cuban government is now performing state sponsored sex reassignment surgery. Although Mariela Castro thinks that this is an important step, she knows that there is still more work to be done.

According to the BBC she is still working:

As head of the government-funded National Centre for Sex Education, she is trying to change people's attitudes towards minority groups in the community.

She is currently attempting to get the Cuban National Assembly to adopt what would be among the most liberal gay and transsexual rights law in Latin America.

The proposed legislation would recognise same-sex unions, along with inheritance rights. It would also give transsexuals the right to free sex-change operations and allow them to switch the gender on their ID cards, with or without surgery.

Given the hard history of homosexuals in Cuba, I am glad that there is a strong leader like Mariela Castro that is fighting for equal rights and inclusion. Mariela has also spoken out against the public discrimination against gay people in public and continues to fight for their rights.

However I would like to urge you that we not simple feel content that people like Mariela Castro are taking leadership and fighting for LGBTQ rights. Instead we also need to use our voices and our power and privelege to take a stand as well on our campsuses, in our communities, nationally and even internationally.

1. Amplify often features informative articles on recent LGBTQ related rights abuses both domestically and internationally. But please do not rely on other people in this community to post items, if you read something or hear about something that you think other people should know about, please make a point to post it.
2. Also there are organizations such as the Human Rights Comission or the  International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission that works directly on LGBTQ rights in the international sphere. But these large organizations are not the only way to get involved, there are also local organizations working advancing LGBTQ rights and there are great examples such as MidwestGenderQueer who reguarly posts on this website.

I urge you to take on any one of these mediums as a means of taking action for LGBTQ rights and thank you for reading!