Machos Maricones & Gays: Cuba and Homosexuality

9. An Imperfect Revolution in an Imperfect World

" I"~ An Imperfect Revolution in an Imperfect World Some people who look at us from afar see us as an immutable society , and make us accountable for what happened five, ten, fifteen years ago, and even for events that never happened. I don't mean to imply by this that the problem [homophobia] has been completely resolved in our country. Ifthat had been the case we would have been the first to solve it in the whole world. -Senel Paz Let us agree that in recent times coercion against gay groups has considerably diminished and that we are already experiencing more acceptance by the heterosexual part ofsociety... . It is a step forward for Cuban gays who, as a result ofour hardships, begin to be conscious ofour situation. -Manifesto ofthe Gay and Lesbian Association ofCuba, July 28, 1994 THE CURRENT situation of Cuban gays is much more oppressive than the Cuban government is willing to acknowledge. Yet it is also much less restricted than it was a decade ago and much better than many emigre gays and lesbians are willing to concede in public. Gay males are subject to discrimination, but CopyrightJd~aterial Imperfect Revolution in an Imperfect World 179 their hardship is more a product ofthe society's inherited machista prejudices and of the regime's generally authoritarian character than it is ofany policy singling out homosexuals for persecution. Still, because the government does not permit issues to be raised outside its purview and because its leadership remains machista and homophobic (at least at the unconscious level),l such prejudices continue to be reproduced in the absence of any serious effort to combat or supplant them. An overview ofthe changes in Cuban society since 1959 reveals the extent to which homosexual oppression has diminished. It also indicates what will have to be accomplished ifCuban gays are going to participate successfully in the movement for gay liberation that is such an important feature of the modern world. The lot ofCuban gays continues to be tied to the overall revolutionary process with all its strengths, defects, and problems. The relative importance that is assigned to the strengths and the defects of the revolution (including the oppression of gays) by commentators in Cuba and elsewhere will depend on their whole social and political worldview. Cuban gays have good grounds to complain and battle against the discriminatory treatment they have endured, and they must be supported in this struggle. Nevertheless, no foreign criticism of the situation of Cuban homosexuals deserves respect if their oppression is treated as a unique fault ofthe revolutionary regime. It is vital that Cuban homophobia be viewed also in the context of Cuba's traditional machismo and in the comparative context of the contemporary oppression of homosexuals elsewhere in Latin America, where cultural and familial values are similar to Cuba's. Furthermore, the continuing oppression of Cuban gays must be seen in the context of all the other forces that have helped to deform the revolution. The United States has done everything in its power short of outright military intervention to prevent the revolution from succeeding and thereby offering an alternative economic and social model to the rest ofLatin America. Since the Copyrighted Material 180 Chapter Nine collapse of the Communist bloc, the u.s. government has intensified its efforts to isolate and destroy the Cuban economy. It has never been able to crush the revolution, but it has built enormous economic and political barriers to Cuba's free development. In the bipolar world that prevailed until recently, Cuba had little choice but to align itself with the Soviet bloc, which was neither democratic, pluralistic, nor economically dynamic. Soviet influence reinforced the undemocratic tendencies already present in Cuba's traditional political culture. Cuba's uncritical support for the USSR included acceptance ofthe racism, sexism, and not least the homophobia that permeated the Soviet society and institutions . By applying the Soviet political model to Cuba, Fidel Castro's regime ensured that these social problems would not be adequately confronted in Cuba either but rather concealed by its professed democratic centralism.2 Though the creation of a new society has doubtless been limited by external factors, the Castro regime has aggravated Cuba's problems-be they social, economic, or national in scope-by preventing many Cubans from lending their energy and creativity to solving them. While most blacks, women, and poor people have been empowered by the revolution in some...