A high profile voice for LGBT Cubans

This week Havana will hold the fifth Cuban Conference on Sexual Education, Orientation and Therapy, organized by the National Center of Sex Education (CENESEX) under Mariela Castro. Ms. Castro, notably, is the daughter of Raul and niece of Fidel Castro, and an outspoken rights advocate on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual Cubans.

In her remarks to reporters today, Mariela characteristically stepped outside the bounds of typical acceptable political and social discourse in Cuba—a rare privilege she enjoys and (thankfully) utilizes as a relatively untouchable member of the Castro family.

She announced that Cuba has now indeed begun performing sex change operations after the government lifted a long-time ban on the procedure in 2007. CENESEX has taken on the role of preparing transsexuals for the procedure and identifying those individuals it deems ready for it, and the surgeries began in 2008. Cuban doctors, working with Belgian counterparts, have as yet performed “less than half” of the 30 surgeries that have been approved by CENESEX, Mariela said, and over one hundred Cubans have now requested the surgery.

The operations have been protested in the past because of the stigma of the related issues, but also because universal health care covers the cost of these (probably expensive) surgeries. In a small country with severe economic problems, some wonder whether such surgeries are the best use of limited state funds. For this reason, Ms. Castro explained, only a small number are scheduled each year, based on budget constraints.

She went on to a second unmentionable: critique of the Communist Party.

Mariela accused the Communist Party of discrimination against gays, and said she will write a letter to its top leadership (note: Fidel Castro is still the official head of the Communist Party) urging them to draft a measure directing that homosexuals not be barred from joining the party. Gay individuals are not technically banned from party membership, but “implicitly they are rejected,” according to Ms. Castro. “Your ideological and party definition have nothing to do with your sexual orientation,” she said, “It’s absurd. It’s laughable.”

Her critique and determination are not unique in Cuba, but her ability to speak completely freely on contentious issues is, indeed, quite rare.

CENESEX’s abilities on the island are also unusual: check out their impressive web forum for LGBT Cubans and allies, la diversidad es natural, with blogs, member pages, and discussion threads here.

(Photo from CENESEX website)