Liam redux

Fidel Castro on homophobia

La homosexualidad no es un peligro, la homofobia sí. Fidel Castro has made a welcome and refreshingly frank self criticism of his political responsibility for homophobia in Cuban society. The BBC reports  “Fidel Castro has said that he is ultimately responsible for the persecution suffered by homosexuals in Cuba after the revolution of 1959. The…

Liam
1–2 minutes

La homosexualidad no es un peligro, la homofobia sí. image

Fidel Castro has made a welcome and refreshingly frank self criticism of his political responsibility for homophobia in Cuban society.

The BBC reports  “Fidel Castro has said that he is ultimately responsible for the persecution suffered by homosexuals in Cuba after the revolution of 1959.

The former president told the Mexican newspaper La Jornada that there were moments of great injustice against the gay community.

"If someone is responsible, it’s me," he said.

In the 1960s and 70s, many homosexuals in Cuba were fired, imprisoned or sent to "re-education camps".

Mr Castro said homosexuals had traditionally been discriminated in Cuba, just as black people and women.

But, nevertheless, he admits he didn’t pay enough attention to what was going on against the gay community.

"At the time we were being sabotaged systematically, there were armed attacks against us, we had too many problems," said the 84-year-old Communist leader.

"Keeping one step ahead of the CIA, which was paying so many traitors, was not easy."

In 1979, homosexuality was decriminalised and, more recently, there have been efforts to legalise same-sex unions. “

3 responses to “Fidel Castro on homophobia”

  1. Marko Parabucki Avatar
    Marko Parabucki

    It is good to see Castro issuing this self-criticism on his former positions on homosexuality. But whilst I am sure that him mentioning that ‘there were more important things to address to, and that he didn’t focus enough on the problem has merrit, I think there was an additional reason.

    Castro is, and always was something of a science ‘buff’, and medical science of the time did define homosexuality as a mental disease. This approach has been so deeply entrenched in medical community, that I remember my father, who was a surgeon, once telling me of a discussion they were having at the Self-Manadgement meeting at the hospital in Belgrade, (then) Yugoslavia, where a world renowned urologist, Dr. Sava Perovic, was explaining the penis reconstruction surgery and within that context, also sex reassignment surgery. The moment latter was mentioned, many doctors were showing signs of disbelief, whilst one of them even said ‘Since when is schyzophrenia cured with castration?’ And this was in 1980’s.

    So is it surprising that Castro’s government was, in 60’s and 70’s, merely propagating the scientific wisdom of the time?

    What I’m interested in though, and of what I haven’t heard a thing, is what happened to all those HIV positive people in Cuba who were effectively quarantined in 1980’s, after government, fearing a mass epidemic caused by soldiers returning from wars against apartheid South Africa and it’s ‘moderate’ and ‘democratic’ clients (Jonas Savimbi and the rest of Jamba ‘Democratic International’ come to mind), tested the entire population, and imposed quarantine on those who were found to be infected. Now, Cuba with it’s superb pharmacy industry and technology was certainly able to provide the modern treatment, but AIDS mortality was much higher then. Are any of these people still alive? And are they still quarantined?

    Like

    Reply
  2. Derek Wall Avatar
    Derek Wall

    Despite some lapses, Fidel has a lot of interesting and positive thinks to say, very strong on ecosocialism.

    He rightly condemns his own record on homophobia, but think of the repression of LGBT community in the UK in the 1960s for example, not sadly unique to Cuba.

    Fidel’s autobiography ‘My Life’ is an excellent read and he lays into Stalin, which is instructive.

    Quite like Fidel so I am sure will be shot down by some people on this thread!

    Like

    Reply
  3. "Wise up" – Castro’s message to Ahmadinejad « Mac Uaid Avatar
    "Wise up" – Castro’s message to Ahmadinejad « Mac Uaid

    […] to Ahmadinejad Posted on September 9, 2010 by Liam Following last week’s rethink on homophobia Fidel Castro has a message for the Iranian leadership on its bonkers, unhistorical, offensive […]

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment

Trending