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Cuba plans its first gay pride parade
The Guardian, 25/6/2008
Economic reforms in Cuba have trickled out since February.
Today, Cuba's gays are planning some reform of their own. Working with Florida's Unity Coalition, activists in Cuba have organised the island's first gay pride parade.
Members of the Foundation LGTB Reinaldo Arenas in Memoriam and other groups will participate in the march, according to Unity. They will meet in Havana's Don Quixote park at 10am and march to the Ministry of Justice to deliver a series of demands.
Marchers seek an apology from the government for its past repression and, in some cases, incarceration of openly gay citizens and the inhumane treatment of prisoners with AIDS, according to Unity.
In Havana, gay activist Aliomar Janjaque said that despite some progress on gay rights, discrimination against homosexuals continues in Cuba. He said people are still passed over for jobs, prevented from gathering in certain places and, in some cases, jailed because of their sexual orientation.
"Mariela Castro's work is good and valid and we're not criticising it," said Janjaque, 31, a psychology student who is president of the Foundation LGTB Reinaldo Arenas in Memoriam. "But we believe they should do more."
Mariela Castro, Raul Castro's daughter, heads the island's National Centre for Sex Education. In May, she led a public rally against homophobia that briefly brought gay activists out of the shadows. Earlier this month, Cuban officials announced they were allowing free sex-change operations for transsexuals.
In South Florida, Cuban natives like Arturo Alvarez, who co-owns Club Azucar, said the government's recent measures don't go far enough.
"We'll see with this parade if openness has really been achieved," said Alvarez, 44, an internist by training who deserted 20 years ago while on a medical mission in Namibia.
Alvarez traveled to Cuba in May to attend Mariela Castro's rally and is cautiously hopeful about signs of change on the island. As a gay teenager in Havana, he was barred from Communist youth groups and experienced withering rejection.
"You couldn't have the slightest gay mannerisms. You could show no trace of who you really were," said Alvarez, who has organised gay pride parades in several Latin American cities, including the first in Montevideo, Uruguay, last year.
For decades under Fidel Castro, Cuban gays were subject to widespread antipathy and government crackdowns, Alvarez and others said. But the community has seen a growing level of tolerance since the 1990s and a lively gay social scene has for years thrived in Havana.
Janjaque said organisers hope an orderly, peaceful march would draw attention to their concerns.
"We want to raise awareness but we don't want to provoke a wave of repression against the gay community," he said. "If there is a hostile reaction from the government, we will stage a much larger demonstration. We will take to the streets."
Organizers abruptly cancel Cuba's first gay pride parade
By Ray Sánchez (SunSentinel.com, 26/8/2008)
The unofficial march, organized with Florida's Unity Coalition, was not sanctioned by Cuba's National Center for Sex Education, which is headed by Mariela Castro, the daughter of President Raul Castro.
Activist Mario Jose Delgado announced the cancellation of the march moments before it was to start Wednesday at a park in Havana. He said two organizers who were to deliver a set of demands to the Justice Ministry were detained one day earlier. Delgado said he has no details of the arrests.
"The president of the Cuban League Against AIDS and the president of the Foundation LGTB Reinaldo Arenas in Memoriam have been arrested," Delgado said. "They were to be here with our written demands but now we cannot carry out our activity."
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(penultimosdias.com, 25/8/2008)
En Miami, la organización Coalición Unida denuncia que la Primera Marcha del Orgullo Gay Cubano que debía celebrarse este 25 de junio en La Habana fue abortada por la Seguridad del Estado cubana.
Los principales líderes de esta marcha, Aliomar Janjaque Chivas e Ignacio Estrada Cepero, fueron arrestados en la noche del día 24 y en la mañana del 25 respectivamente.
El señor Aliomar Janjaque es el presidente de la Fundacion LGTB Reynaldo Arenas en Memoria, Ignacio Estrada Cepero es el presidente de Comisión Cubana de Derechos Humanos para personas con VIH y Etnias Sexuales, y de la Liga Cubana contra el SIDA.
Otros miembros de las organizaciones convocantes fueron citados a la sede de la policía política para intimidarlos y multarlos. Entre ellos se encuentran Enrique Obregon Solano, Ernesto de la Cruz Aleq, Jhony Suarez Betancourt, Julian Amando Soto, Esther Cayo Vazquez y Oscar Cuba.Todos son miembros de las organizaciones Comisión Cubana de Derechos Humanos para personas con VIH y Etnias Sexuales, La Liga Cubana contra el SIDA, la Fundación Elena Mederos, La Fundación LGTB Reinaldo Arenas in Memoriam, la Fundación el Movimiento Cubano por la Liberación Homosexual, el Colectivo Transexual Habana, el Centro Cultural LGTB Habana y la Organización Presidio Político de Gay Reinaldo Arenas.
Esta marcha pretendía ser la Primera Marcha del Orgullo Gay Cubano bajo el lema “No estás solo”, por la liberación y el respeto a la diversidad Sexual en Cuba pero el totalitarismo de la dictadura castrista lo impidió a pesar de las supuestas aperturas a la comunidad homosexual propagandizadas por Mariela Casto, directora del Centro Nacional de Educacion Sexual, e hija del mandatario Raúl Castro.
En comunicación telefónica con el periodista independiente Carlos Serpa Maceira, éste describió cómo las inmediaciones del parque El Qujiote en el Vedado, de donde partirían los manifestantes fueron tomadas por Brigadas de Respuesta Rápida que impidieron se reunieran en ese lugarLa marcha pretendía llegar hasta el Ministerio de Justicia con el objetivo de entregar demandas al gobierno castrista. Entre ellas se encuentran, el cese de la violencia y la represión contra los homosexuales cubanos.
