Cuba's unlikely trans advocate
Published 05/31/2012
by Theresa Sparks
http://www.ebar.com/columns/column.php?sec=guest_op&article=376Last week, when I was invited to speak at an event at the LGBT Community Center for Mariela Castro Espin, I was honored and a bit curious. She is a Castro after all, daughter of Raul Castro, the current president of Cuba, and niece of Fidel. I am of the generation that remembers the Cuban revolution, the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban missile crisis and the apparent control by the Soviet Union of a sovereign communist nation 90 miles from Florida. I am a product of the Cold War.
I really knew very little about Castro other than she was founder and director of Cenesex, the Cuban National Center for Sex Education, a noted sexologist, publisher of Sexologia y Sociedad , and an outspoken advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual and (most notably) transgender rights. She is the Cuban version of our own Carol Queen. I also knew that the Human Rights Watch recently stated, "Cuba remains the only country in Latin America that represses virtually all forms of political dissent. The government enforces political conformity using harassment, invasive surveillance, threats of imprisonment, and travel restrictions." How is it possible that this individual is able to walk the tightrope between a totalitarian political philosophy, within the context of an overwhelmingly Catholic populous, and open support for transgender health care, HIV compassionate treatment, same-sex marriage (it's evolving), and opposition to homophobia and transphobia? The answer is, of course, after all, she is a Castro. But, after listening to Castro speak, one quickly realizes that both the issues and Castro herself are much more complicated than that.
