Asking Mariela Castro: When Will All Human Rights Come Out of the Closet in Cuba?

Yoani Sanchez
Posted December 12, 2008 | 03:24 PM (EST)
Asking Mariela Castro: When Will All Human Rights Come Out of the Closet
in Cuba?

Yesterday I went to a conference on sexuality held at the Museum of Fine
Arts. For two weeks, there has been a series on erotic art accompanied
by films and talks. Just this Tuesday there was a chance to hear about
the incorporation of transsexuals into society and the prejudices that
still exist against them. So on the way to Alamar-where the Festival of
Poetry Without End is going on-I dropped into the amphiteater in the old
Asturian Center.

After the conference I had the chance to ask Mariela Castro a question
that torments me every time I hear about tolerance for sexual
preference. I still don't understand that we accept the right of another
to choose with whom they make love, however we continue in this
ideological monogamy they have imposed on us. If concepts such as "sick"
have now been banished from the study of homosexuality, why does the
adjective "counterrevolutionary" continue to be used for those who think
differently. For me, it's as serious to call someone who doesn't conform
a "faggot" as it is to call them a "worm."

As today is the day that those rights should be at the center of
everyone's attention, I want to show a short video of my brief encounter
with Mariela. The audio is poor and so I have transcribed the dialog for
those who are unable to hear everything.

Mariela: Including treatment for transgender people is something
that's called for in the law. We don't ask for more.

Yoani: I'd like to ask if this entire campaign being undertaken, in
some way, for society to accept sexual preference could, at some point,
move to other roles and will also fight for tolerance of other aspects
which could be points of view and political and ideological preferences.
Will we also come out of these closets?

Mariela: I don't know because I don't work in that area. The
ideological and political field is outside my responsibility. I think I
am doing the best I can given my ability.

Note: Mariela Castro Espin is the daughter of Raul Castro and his late
wife Vilma Espin, and is the niece of Fidel Castro. She is the director
of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education and an advocate for gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights.

This entry can be read on the English translation of Yoani's blog
http://desdecuba.com/generationy/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yoani-sanchez/asking-mariela-castro-whe_b_150453.html