Here's an interview with Mariela Castrofrom Der Spiegel today - she's the head of CENESEX, The National Centre for Sexual Education, Cuba's main organisation working for gay rights.
There's a video of her talking about CENESEX's work here.
I think she's great.
She's also the niece of Fidel Castro - and the daughter of Raúl Castro, the president of Cuba.
Apropos of nothing, Raul's nickname is "La China" - The Chinese Woman, though I don't think anyone says this to his face.
It's often been rumoured Raul's gay.
One of the reasons Allen Ginsberg got asked to leave Cuba in 1965 was he repeated the rumour about Raúl, and told an interviewer he wanted to shag Che Guevara.
Homosexuality was illegal in Cuba until 1979 - this fact is often cited as proof of the communist state's backwardness and barbarity.
Cuba - boo!
But among its neighbours in the Caribbean, homosexuality was illegal in Haiti until 1986, in the Bahamas until 1991, and in Puerto Rico until 2002.
And it's still illegal in Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago
Mind you, gay sex was illegal in Scotland until 1980, in Northern Ireland until 1982, and in Guernsey, Alderney, Herm and Sark until 1983.
Jersey took until 1990, and The Isle of Man until 1992.
In the Republic of Ireland homosexuality wasn't legalised in 1993.
And the US laws against gay sex were only struck down by the Supreme Court in 2003.
It's a funny old world, isn't it?
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment