Sunday, May 18, 2008

Haven't they suffered enough?

AP:
Cuba's gay community celebrated unprecedented openness — and high-ranking political alliances — with a government-backed campaign against homophobia Saturday. . . .

State television in Cuba, where prejudice against gays is deeply rooted, gave prime-time play Friday to the U.S. film "Brokeback Mountain," which tells the story of two cowboys who conceal their homosexual affair.
Update: Not such a big deal, really. The Cuban dictatorship said long ago that it ♡s trannies.

Update II: Radar in 2006 on Raúl Castro:
News articles on exile websites about the hand over, which may prove temporary if Fidel ever recovers, are routinely accompanied by reader comments that refer to Raúl as el maricón, a Spanish derogatory term equivalent to "faggot." . . . Asked how widespread the belief is, a member of a Cuban exile family from Miami told Radar simply, "Everyone knows Raúl is gay."

The Western press has almost entirely ignored the rumor, aside from The Economist, which has mentioned in passing that Raúl is known as "la China," or "the Chinese girl." This, according to The Economist, is because he is "effeminate." In fact, it carries a clear implication of homosexuality, says Ann Louise Bardach, author of Cuba Confidential: Love and Vengeance in Miami and Havana," and an expert on the regime.

Bardach acknowledges that the rumor about Raúl is remarkably pervasive. It's not even particularly farfetched: Gay relationships are exceptionally common in Cuban culture, even among men who consider themselves straight, says Bardach. "It might be the gayest place on the planet outside of South Beach."
I did not know that.

(h/t Will T. Power)

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