(There are some different quotes here from the ones which were in
the MIAMI HERALD article just sent. It doesn't do Mariela Castro
or the cause for which she is advocating any harm that she is an
exceptionally physically attractive woman, with an engaging smile
and a forthright manner, either.In an interview some years back,
with the monthly newspaper of the University of Havana, ALMA MATER,
she advocated that the next time Cuba's constitution were amended,
that sexual orientation be added to the list of groups which would
be protected against discrimination. I'd heard that there were to
be some LGBT athletes participating, and that there was also going
to be a delegation participating in this conference. There may be
some additional publicity around this.

Fidel himself has changed his tune on gays, and he did so many
years ago. You can read his most recent reflections, in the book
which is just being published in a few weeks here, in connection
with Fidel's birthday. It's 718 pages long and was published by
the Cuban Council of State, in other words, by the government
http://www.walterlippmann.com/fc-100-hours.html

Änd to read more on LGBT issues in relation to Cuba, please see:
http://www.walterlippmann.com/lgbt-cuba.html A photo of Mariela
Castro is posted along with the link to this article here as well.
===================================================================

Sexual revolution: Mariela Castro speaks out for Cuba's gay minority

MARY LAMEY
The Gazette

Saturday, July 29, 2006

http://makeashorterlink.com/?L26756B7D

CREDIT: GORDON BECK, THE GAZETTE Mariela Castro, niece of Fidel
Castro, attends a session on human rights yesterday at the Palais des
congres. She is a vocal supporter of rights for Cuba's lesbians,
gays, bisexuals and the transgendered.

Mariela Castro preaches revolution, though not the kind her uncle
Fidel has ever embraced.

As the head of Cuba's National Centre for Sexual Education, Castro is
a vocal supporter of rights for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and the
transgendered. That support brought her to Montreal yesterday, to
speak at the International Conference on LGBT Human Rights, being
held in conjunction with the First World Outgames.

Castro, 43, is the daughter of Raul Castro, Cuba's defence minister
and the first in line to succeed 80-year-old dictator Fidel Castro,
who has ruled the country for 50 years.

Mariela Castro's participation was a matter of controversy. Some
applauded her for supporting Cuba's sexual minorities; others,
however, were skeptical.

"When he wants to vilify an opponent, the first thing Fidel Castro
will call him is a maricon (faggot)," said Toronto film editor
Ricardo Acosta, a gay man who was expelled from Cuba in 1980 as part
of a massive deportation that became known as the Mariel boatlift.

"Perhaps her intentions are good, but until people can express
themselves freely in Cuba and have freedom to associate, I won't
believe things have changed for gays and lesbians."

Acosta visited Cuba with his partner last winter and said police
turned a blind eye to gay prostitution involving Cuban men and
foreigners.

"They were willing to tolerate sex tourism as long as it doesn't
cross a line," he said.

Speaking to reporters, Castro acknowledged Cuba's history of
suppressing LGBT rights, but she insisted the mass arrests,
imprisonments in work camps, job discrimination and deportations of
the 1960s, '70s and '80s are things of the past.

"There is no official repression of lesbians and gays in Cuba," she
said flatly through a translator. "What remains are social and
cultural reactions that must be transformed, the same as in many
other countries."

Gays, lesbians and transgendered people still face arrest, she
conceded, but that reflects problems with bigoted police.

Cuba's constitution bars discrimination on the basis of sex, race or
age, but does not specifically prohibit discrimination on the basis
of sexual identity. Cuba decriminalized sodomy in 1979.

While athletes from more than 100 countries are participating in the
Outgames, not a single Cuban has registered for the event. Castro was
asked whether this reflected an unwillingness by athletes in her
country to come out, or an unwillingness by the Cuban government to
allow participants to attend.

"As a matter of fact, there are many homosexual athletes in Cuba.
Unfortunately, they are not good athletes," she said with a smile.
"The government could not afford to send a team here and risk that
they would come home without any medals."

She herself had contemplated registering for swimming, she added with
a wink, "but I am afraid of the water."

mlamey@... © The Gazette (Montreal) 2006