A Transgender Elected Official Reflects an Evolving Cuba

[Mika]

A lot of the usual cut and paste claptrap from the NYT, but there's this ...

A Transgender Elected Official Reflects an Evolving Cuba
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/16/world/americas/a-transgender-elected-official-reflects-an-evolving-cuba.html

Ms. Hernández was more than a little tickled when she became the first transgender person to be elected to public office in Cuba, a country whose government once viewed homosexuality as a dangerous aberration and, in the 1960s, packed gay men off to labor camps.

“It’s a huge achievement,” said Ms. Hernández, referring to her election in November to the municipal council in this coastal town where she represents the 2,000 or so residents of her destitute neighborhood. She raised her painted eyebrows, saying, “For a country that has been so homophobic to change so dramatically — it’s unheard of.”

As modest as Ms. Hernández’s official new powers are, her ascendance to the first rung of Cuba’s political ladder is a measure of how attitudes have evolved here, especially in the past decade, as the Cuban leadership gradually moved away from old prejudices, the Internet created new connections among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and Raúl Castro’s daughter, Mariela Castro Espín, took up their cause.

“Times have changed,” said Alberto Hernández, 53, a farmer who lives near Ms. Hernández, but is no relation. He nominated her because she was blunt and hard-working, he said, adding, “Her sexuality is her business.”

NOT everyone shares this view. Luisa Cardenas Del Sol, 72, a retired nursery school teacher who lives outside Ms. Hernández’s constituency, said she would not have voted for her.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Interesting! How likely is it this could have happened in Miami, anyway? Not too. n/t

[Mika]

2. In Floriduh, its still legal to fire an employee for being gay.

Last edited Sat Mar 30, 2013, 09:15 PM - Edit history (1)

Its the DEEP South here.

[joshcryer]

4. 29 states can fire you for being gay, 34 for being transgendered.

This isn't a uniquely FL or Southern tradition.

[joshcryer]

3. Donna Milo?

The weird thing is that Donna Milo is a transgendered, Republican, anti-gay, Cuban-American candidate. Yeah, really. She didn't win, btw, but she didn't have the advantage of an up down "vote."