Cuba: Si

A blessing - presided over by Rev Richard Coles?

More than 1,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Cubans have marched through the streets of Havana to protest against discrimination.

The event was organised by President Raul Castro's daughter, Mariela Castro.

Although same-sex marriage remains illegal, dozens of couples took part in symbolic gay weddings presided over by religious leaders from Cuba and the US.

Two years ago, Cuban law banned workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The wedding ceremonies at the Eighth Annual March against Homophobia and Transphobia were a form of protest at the fact that gay marriage and same sex unions are still illegal in Cuba [and in most of Latin America].

Cuban LGBT organisations hope gay marriage will become legal before their march takes place next year.

Of all the areas in which Cuba has changed since Fidel Castro left power, the steps towards improved gay and lesbian rights on the island are some of the most significant, says the BBC's Will Grant in Havana.

"Same sex marriage is already legal in Argentina and Uruguay and in Mexico City. And we've always celebrated their achievements," said Mariela Castro, who is head of Cuba's Sexual Health Institute.

"So we're not interested in being the first. For us, it's just about achieving it in the first place," she added.

BBC News- with short video report.

President Raul Castro was in Moscow yesterday for the Victory Day Parade, and meets Pope Francis later today.

Exciting times!

Or is it the End Times?

PS Raul Castro is probably gay and is a proper communist, unlike Fidel.

Noam Chomsky: A Quick Interview About Obama And Cuba

Dear Noam,

I haven't seen you comment on this, apologies if you have, I wondered what you think the real reason is behind President Obama's overtures to Cuba?

respectfully

Richard

I’ve discussed it in talks, briefly in postings. The way it was presented by Obama and loyally repeated in the media was of course grotesque. The real reasons, plain enough, are that the US policies of terror and crushing embargo had entirely isolated the US in the hemisphere, and Obama is hoping to repair relations with the rest of the hemisphere by ending the longstanding US veto on Cuban participation in hemispheric affairs, particularly with the current Summit coming up.

Many thanks for your reply.

I hope you don't mind if I ask a follow-up question; where do you think Cuba will be in, say, ten years time?

What do you think the US wants to happen?

Apologies for taking up your time.

yours

Richard

What the US wants to happen hasn’t really changed much since the 1820s: it should be under our rule. The US couldn’t achieve that at the time because of the British deterrent, but as John Quincy Adams explained, the US should just wait, and Cuba will fall into our hands by the laws of “political gravitation,” as an apple falls from a tree: meaning, British power would decline and US power would increase. By 1898, the US was able to intervene directly to prevent Cuba’s liberation from Spain (what’s called in the US “the liberation of Cuba by the US”), turning it into a virtual colony. Within months after liberation in 1959 the US began attacking the island, and that’s being going on since. Whether it will succeed in the next decade is hard to say. Cuba now has the protection of much of Latin America, which has been escaping Washington’s grip.

PS Cruising at Cuba's socialist ice cream cathedral.

Mariela Castro: Cuban Family Values

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?