>John T writes:
>
>>Anyway I do like the idea of an LBO convention outside the
>US for the fact that traveling to the US has been made more
>difficult than it used to be.
>
>And travelling outside US can be difficult for PWA's and PHIV's.
If this were true only for US citizens it would be more of an issue but since it holds true for most nations it places no greater burden on one than another.
>>Cuba is fantastic except for the occasional hurricane.
>
>And the internment camps for queers, PWA's and PHIV's. Other
>than that it is divine.
>
>Brian Dauth
>Queer Buddhist Resister
I am admittedly not an expert in this field but the following from a progressive website concerning travel to Cuba matches my understanding:
"Homophobia is still very much part of the culture, but the government has ceased to target lesbians and gay men for particular opprobrium, as it did in the 60's and early 70's, when thousands of gay men were interned in military work camps and queers were purged from universities, boarding schools, and prestigious jobs. Male transvestite performers have regained their traditional place in showbiz. Although there are almost no openly queer bars, gay cruising areas and lesbian/gay house parties are flourishing in Havana and nobody seems to care."
The quarantining of PWA's in "sanatoria' is undoubtedly unnecessary and should be opposed by anyone interested in justice but it does not equal an internment camp for queers. At least not to the queers who live in Cuba anyway. That tends to be the view of US and European queers however so it must be correct. What do Cuban queers know about freedom? Quarantining PWA's is bad enough but nothing is served by exaggerating the scale of the problem. I haven't made it to Cuba but I have friends who have and a few are queer and had no problems. If you are looking for a country with no questionable social policies good luck. The fact that the US military will not accept openly gay individuals could mean someone cannot in good faith travel to the US either. India is out as queers are more ostracized in Bangalore and Calcutta now than has historically been the case. Since the 1700's India has been moving towards less acceptance of queers in spite of their long history of acceptance. Where shall we go where no one is oppressed? That said if there is a strong serious opposition to traveling to Cuba I can't imagine anyone having a problem with removing that option from the table but in all seriousness Brian where does one draw the line? I have queer friends and none of them has any issue with travel to Cuba but none of them would support that states "right" to quarantine PAW's. The US is engaged in a massive human rights violation of a scale much larger than the one in Cuba. On the same grounds this should remove any possibility of holding such a convention in the US, no?
Have you read either "Homosexuality, Society, and the State in Mexico" or " Machos, Maricones, and Gays: Cuba and Homosexuality"? They are both great books. They claim that homophobia for most of Latin America appears to be a gender role issue rather than the puritanical issue that primarily drives homophobia in the US. Transgender individuals apparently are viewed as somehow "worse" than queers. There is another book, whose title escapes me, on other countries with particular emphasis on Caribbean culture. The violence in Jamaica directed against queers and the widespread acceptance of such targeted violence is quite shocking. The following is part of a review for the book on Cuba.
"His book on Cuba deals almost exclusively with the sexual values, attitudes, and behavior of males, though it relates these to general attitudes toward "machismo," Cuban family values, and the role of women in Cuban society. The author addresses these matters both in pre-revolutionary Cuba, and in the Castro era which began in 1959.
Lumsden defines and differentiates "machos," "maricones" and "gays." He discusses the manifestations of same-sex behavior in non-gay men, in the sexual interactions between gay and non-gay men, and the recent emergence of a "gay" population. The first two chapters present an historical overview of the last half century as well as earlier antecedents to contemporary gay life. Other chapters address homophobia, sexual education and homosexuality, the law in Cuba, AIDS, the erosion of traditional "machismo," and gay life in Havana today.
Contrary to popular ideas, same-sex male sexual behavior is remarkably common in Cuba despite the restrictions imposed by ordinary daily life. For Americans, officially denied the opportunity to travel in Cuba by the U.S. government, this book is an excellent account of contemporary Cuban life in general, and male-male sexual behavior in particular."
While we're still on the topic of queers and Cuba have you seen "Strawberry & Chocolate (Fresa y Chocolate)? A film made by two socialist that I was told was a fairly accurate portrayal of many of the issues queers deal with in Cuba? It's a comedy however and I tend not to be a huge fan of comedies so I didn't care a great deal for the film.
John Thornton
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