Cubans march against homophobia

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Cubans march against homophobia
By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ
The Associated Press
Saturday, May 15, 2010; 3:22 PM

http://media3.washingtonpost.com.nyud.net:8090/wp-dyn/content/photo/2010/05/15/PH2010051502524.jpg

Mariela Castro, daughter of Cuba's President Raul
Castro, front row second from right, participates
in events leading up to the International Day
Against Homophobia in Havana, Saturday, May 15, 2010.
International Day Against Homophobia is celebrated
annually on May 17. Mariela Castro directs the
National Sexual Education Center.
(AP Photo/Franklin Reyes) (Franklin Reyes - AP)

HAVANA -- Hundreds of gay and lesbian activists, some dressed in drag and others sporting multicolored flags representing sexual diversity, marched and danced through the streets of Havana on Saturday along with the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro as part of a celebration aimed at eliminating homophobia around the world.

Some of the marchers played drums and others walked on stilts as they made their way down a wide avenue in the capital's hip Vedado neighborhood, where they have held a series of debates and workshops ahead of the May 17 celebration of the International Day Against Homophobia, which participants say marks the day in 1990 when the World Health Organization stopped listing homosexuality as a mental illness.

"We have made progress, but we need to make more progress," said Mariela Castro, a campaigner for gay rights on the island and the leader of Cuba's National Sexual Education Center. She is also the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro.

Cuba has come a long way in accepting homosexuality. In the 1960s, shortly after the revolution, homosexuals were fired from state jobs and many were imprisoned or sent to work camps. Others fled into exile.

But that began to change in the 1980s, in large part to the work of Mariela Castro's center. Recently, the government has even agreed to include sex change operations for transsexuals under its free national health system, another project championed by the center.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/15/AR2010051502522.html

[midnight]

1. The WHO listed being gay as being mentally ill? Now that is crazy.

[boppers]

4. The DSM listed it as a mental illness until 1974.

Yup, crazy indeed.

[Mika]

2. Look at those poor starving Cubans.

They have time for this?

Another poster told us that Cubans are starving and they'll eat anything that moves - that they've already eaten all of the cats, dogs, and pigeons.

Guess not.



Thanks for posting this story.

---

[Judi Lynn]

3. If the poor starving Cubans U.S. right-wingers claim are there see these guys,

they'll be in someone's stew in a heartbeat!

That "starving" claim would indicate someone is running out of charges to fling at Cubans. We hear that one only from the most out-of-touch winger fantasists. People who know anything about Cuba don't use dramatic and stupid language like that. They are sturdier than almost any group in Latin America, according to world health statistics. Longevity, healthy children, low infant mortality. Healthy, not starving.

So many people need to develope an appetite for the truth, wouldn't you say?

[protocol rv]

5. Nobody is flinging charges "at Cubans"

I am just saying the Cuban regime is a dictatorship, and in the past Cubans have gone so hungry they ate the pigeons, cats, and dogs. And I showed you links to british papers writing about this topic. :-)

[bemildred]

6. Well, thank goodness we cleared that up.

Clearly, you are an unbiased and objective observer who merely reports what he sees. Cubans have been hungry, and ate "pigeons, cats, and dogs", and it's all because Castro hate gays.

[Billy Burnett]

9. Of course. As you say, nobody is doing any such thing.

Noooooone is doing any such thing. :eyes:

And then you sling it again. :crazy:

---

[boppers]

11. Hm. Hadn't heard this angle before.

http://www.wfp.org/countries/cuba seems to find anemia is the biggest hunger problem.
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=47362999f43d3c5caf805e8ea8fdc1dd points the finger at natural disasters as a problem for maintaining a food supply.
http://www.fao.org/ag/agn/nutrition/cub_en.stm seems to indicate they're doing pretty good.
http://english.pravda.ru/society/stories/04-01-2010/111545-cubaleads-0 says that they're doing fantastic, but it is Pravda. ;)

Most of the web pages I got for the search on "cuba hunger" were about hunger strikes for political prisoners, so there's that...

Since I don't see the links in this thread, could you re-share?

[EFerrari]

7. They look too weak to stand.

:rofl:

[Billy Burnett]

10. It is laughable. Sick. But, laughable.

Dog. The other white meat.

Pigeon fed Cuban children



:sarcasm:

[Jefferson23]

8. Las personas cubanas son excelentes!

:toast: