User:OSabates/LGBT rights in Cuba

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Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Cuba may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Sine pre-Revolutionary times, the LGBT community has been marginalized due to distinct criteria. Cuba was rooted on the basis of heteronormativity, traditional gender roles, and strict criteria for moralism. During the Revolution the combination of socialism and traditional morality only exacerbated the marginalization of the LGBT community even more. Therefore, those who did not fit the mold of the societal construct were deemed as either outcasts or as unproductive. It was not until recently that the attitudes and acceptance towards LGBT people have changed to be more tolerant. In 2018, the National Assembly voted to legalize same-sex marriage, with a constitutional referendum to be held in February 2019. However, it was later removed from the draft Constitution. In May 2019, the Government announced that the Union of Jurists of Cuba is working on the new Family Code, which would address same-sex marriage. On 7 September 2021, the government announced that the new Family Code will be brought to the National Assembly for approval, and then be put to popular vote; this code will most likely legalize same-sex marriage if approved in the referendum. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is illegal in Cuba.

Historically, public antipathy towards LGBT people was high. This had eased since the 1990s. Educational campaigns on LGBT issues are currently implemented by the National Center for Sex Education (locally known as "CENESEX"), headed by Mariela Castro, daughter of former President and Communist Party First Secretary Raúl Castro. Pride parades in Havana were held every May, to coincide with the International Day Against Homophobia, with attendance having grown every year.

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Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Cuba may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Attitudes and acceptance towards LGBT people have changed in recent years to be more tolerant. In 2018, the National Assembly voted to legalize same-sex marriage, with a constitutional referendum to be held in February 2019. However, it was later removed from the draft Constitution. In May 2019, the Government announced that the Union of Jurists of Cuba is working on the new Family Code, which would address same-sex marriage. On 7 September 2021, the government announced that the new Family Code will be brought to the National Assembly for approval, and then be put to popular vote; this code will most likely legalize same-sex marriage if approved in the referendum. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is illegal in Cuba.

Historically, public antipathy towards LGBT people was high. This had eased since the 1990s. Educational campaigns on LGBT issues are currently implemented by the National Center for Sex Education (locally known as "CENESEX"), headed by Mariela Castro, daughter of former President and Communist Party First Secretary Raúl Castro. Pride parades in Havana were held every May, to coincide with the International Day Against Homophobia, with attendance having grown every year.

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Pre-revolutionary Cuba was a place of intolerance toward the LGBT community. Due to the emphasis on traditional heteronormativity, there were few enclaves where the queer community could congregate together in a common space. The job market was uneven at the time and the "Afro-Hispanic culture was very patriarchal and emphasized a compulsory toxic and heterosexual society, especially in rural areas. Most of the community migrated toward Havana in search of jobs and sexual liberation. Moreover, rural communities would often alienate their LGBT community or family members deeming them the "village queer" or the "village idiot." Due to the uneven job market, Havana around the 1950s allowed for closeted occupational life and the underground job sector continued to grow aside from tourism like, drug distribution, gambling, and prostitution. This job sector curtailed homosexual desire into the "Havana Underworld, which was run by the Cuban homosexual bourgeoise." Homosexuality was a component of the thriving industry of prostitution in Cuba, with many gay men drawn into prostitution largely for visitors and servicemen from the United States. Homosexuality also was linked to gambling and crime. Therefore, while the LGBT community did not have official visibility, they had success in the job market for US tourists who were looking for homoerotic experiences. There were few LGBT-friendly bars in Cuban cities, such as the St. Michel, the Intermezzo Bar, the Dirty Dick, and El Gato Tuerto in Havana. However, despite the vibrancy of the Underworld and the breadth of its influence, Cuba still had laws that oppressed homosexuality and targeted gay men for harassment. Socially, gay men were considered outcasts. Families were often be heard calling their family members "locas" meaning queens, "maricones" meaning faggots or "tortilleras" meaning dykes. The homosexual culture was purely recognized as an economic strategy where the Underworld fostered a sense of reliance on homoerotic desires by US tourists and other niche interests that the community took part in. "[D]iscrete lesbian or gay male identities in the modern sense - identities that are based on self-definition and involve emotional as well as physical aspects of same-sex relations - were rare. Erotic loyalty (and, in the case of women, subservience) to the opposite sex was assumed to be normal even by homosexuals. Hence, for many Cubans of this era, homosexuality was a mere addendum to customary marital roles. Among others, it was just a profitable commodification of sexual fantasy. For the vast majority, homosexuality made life a shameful and guilt-ridden experience."(Original)

In pre-revolutionary Cuba, there were few LGBT-friendly bars in Cuban cities, such as the St. Michel, the Intermezzo Bar, the Dirty Dick, and El Gato Tuerto in Havana. But Cuba had strict laws that criminalized homosexuality and targeted gay men for harassment. Socially, gay men were considered outcasts. "[D]iscrete lesbian or gay male identities in the modern sense - identities that are based on self-definition and involve emotional as well as physical aspects of same-sex relations - were rare. Erotic loyalty (and, in the case of women, subservience) to the opposite sex was assumed to be normal even by homosexuals. Hence, for many Cubans of this era, homosexuality was a mere addendum to customary marital roles. Among others, it was just a profitable commodification of sexual fantasy. For the vast majority, homosexuality made life a shameful and guilt-ridden experience."Homosexuality was a component of the thriving industry of prostitution in Cuba, with many gay men drawn into prostitution largely for visitors and servicemen from the United States. Homosexuality also was linked to gambling and crime.

Post-revolution Cuba

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Gay rights are slim to none in non democracies because of the lack of advocacy. A key component to advocacy is the accessibility of a country to the courts, a party system, and the legislature where political freedom, civil society, and a rule of law can take precedent. This allows for policy diffusion which can therefore promote global queering and help to encapsulate a range of sexual identities in gay communities around the world. According to the British NGO called "Human Dignity Trust" which focuses on decriminalization of homosexuality around the world and reports that the absence of political freedom is one common feature among those who criminalize same sex relations. Cuba is a prime example of an authoritative regime that prohibits freedom of association and freedom of press and therefore conditionally marginalizes the community that needs diffusion of information like the LGBT community.

Following the emergence of Castro's regime in 1959, the visibility of the LGBT community only worsened. The revolutionary leaders were typically white middle class men who were raised under the traditional sexual ideology. Furthermore, the Marxist Leninist framework that the regime utilized prioritized a change in production and class relations with an emphasis on family and sexuality. In addition, the government emphasized the youth as the the future of the Revolution which was a fundamental aim of the 1960s. Education was used to promote "moralism" along with a sense of total commitment to the Revolution. In the same breath, anti-Revolutionary tactics were criticized and penalized, therefore listening to American music, wearing mini skirts, and men with long hair were all forms of anti-Revolutionary tactics along with homosexuality. Accordingly, the Revolution defined a qualified citizen as one who promotes a productive labor force and homosexuality along with prostitution were deemed nonproductive and related to American decadence. Furthermore, oftentimes, men who had sex with other men were caught in bar raids to crackdown on commercial sex and drugs in the 1960s. Consequently, the Committees for Defense of the Revolution began to report homosexual people in the 1960s to authorities in response to a possible US invasion. It was plain to see that homosexual individuals in Cuba were painted at anti-Revolutionary threats to the regime. Following, in 1965 the Ministry of Health announced that homosexuality was learned and therefore they began to implement preventative measures for children to learn of typical and traditional heterosexual normalities. "Effeminate" boys were taught to play sports, self- defense and also military exercise. In addition, if men were deemed too feminine, they would be subject to expulsion from mass organizations such as the Young Communist League. There was even a sign held up on University of Havana's campus saying "no homosexual represents the Revolution, which is a matter of men, fists and not feathers, of courage and not trembling, of certainty and not intrigue, of creative valor and not of sweet surprises." Fidel Castro also announced in 1966 that "no homosexual could ever embody the conditions and requirements of conduct that would enable us to consider him a true revolutionary, a true communist militant." Overall, the homophobia established in the 1960s and persisted until the 2000s was a result of a combination of traditional heterosexual masculinity combined with socialist morality that identified certain sexual behaviors as non-productive. The Revolutionary Offensive was also a campaign that sought to nationalize private business in 1968 and was also a part of a greater scheme to promote morality within the political and economic campaign which allowed Cuba to create their path as socialist state.