Mariela Castro, Cuba President Raul Castro's Daughter, Backs Obama On Gay Marriage

HAVANA -- Cuban President Raul Castro's daughter congratulated Barack Obama on Thursday for his support for gay marriage, but said his comments are just a first step toward changing policy.

The U.S. president delivered a message that was "humane, understanding, in which he even recognizes that he too has been changing his opinion in favor of marriage, the free union of same-sex couples," said Mariela Castro, who is Cuba's most prominent gay rights activist as head of the National Center for Sex Education, or Cenesex.

"Hopefully his words will be taken seriously in the political and legislative decisions made in different states and in the whole world," Castro said, adding that such statements by Obama and other politicians must be accompanied by concrete actions if they are to be made into reality.

Castro's group is pushing a proposal to allow same-sex unions that is under consideration by Cuban legislators.

Cenesex is leading an awareness campaign this month linked to the International Day Against Homophobia on May 17.

Also on HuffPost:

Comments

[abhorson]

10:52 AM on 06/07/2012

can she vote in Miami ? since you're not required to show id ...

[Laquasha]

05:26 PM on 06/04/2012

Lol...what a shock - a gay commie endorses obbama, another gay commie...lol.

[walterlx]

08:45 AM on 05/21/2012

Mariela Castro says, "Socialism with Discrimination is Inconceivable in her latest and longest interview to date. Here's a tiny excerpt:

We cannot believe that by eliminating homophobia we would be eliminating the problem of discrimination in Cuban society. We need to eradicate the trend, the archaic model of an exploitative society that makes up parameters to establish differences and inequalities. We cannot keep on reproducing these.

This is why the educational work we do is aimed at transforming our consciousness, our culture. I hope that at some point our conga against homophobia that is danced along our main avenues becomes a tradition. We’ll have to make it more artistic, find better ideas to make it richer as a cultural option, so that perhaps it becomes a historical tradition and one day, when there is no longer homophobia in Cuba, somebody would say, “remember when in Cuba this was done because there was discrimination and this conga was danced to call people’s attention to the need to eradicate homophobia!”…

Read the full interview here:
http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs3416.html

[raremar]

07:47 AM on 05/14/2012

Excuse me but on the headlines it reads "Cuba President Raul Castro"...and as far as I know a "president" is somebody who gets elected by the people... Both brothers Fidel and Raul have been dictators in Cuba since 1959.

[zenos]

04:43 PM on 06/20/2012

Well, you don't know very much, raremar. Cuba is a participatory democracy where voters not only get to choose the candidates at open public meetings but then vote for them, or against them, at subsequent secret ballots. The Castros, like every delegate to the 614 seat National Assembly, are/were as subject to this process as any other.

[roshni]

12:11 PM on 05/12/2012

Agree with her.

[Micheal Frisbie]

09:32 AM on 05/12/2012

i have inside info from an anonymous source who is very reliable and an expert in their field... that the karl rove super pac paid her to say that.

[Tsvi1]

02:58 PM on 05/11/2012

Lets all be completely honest here. When Castro got into power he designated homosexuality as a bourgeois thing that must be wiped out. Since then Fidel did appologize for his earlier actions, claiming to have come to the realization that he was wrong. However, did Cuba ever pay reparations to all the gays that did suffer under Castro? Im pretty sure they did not.
So Cuba can say all it wants about its acceptance of gays today, but the Castros cannot act like they are at the centre at the fight for gay rights.

[awya]

03:31 PM on 05/11/2012

After Castro's arrival in power all homosexuals were put in jail
in 1980 at the Mariel boat exudus he "liberated" homosexuals and forced
the boat owners to put them aboard ahead of their families, homosexuality
in Cuba is a crime even tho Raul Castro has been homosexual all his life

[Shomali]

10:43 PM on 05/11/2012

And what happened in the intervening 20 years. Between 1960 and 1980? lol

Anyways, no one is claiming there were no discrimination against homosexuals in Cuba, but the point is now they have alot more rights now than many parts of the US. That is to no small part due to efforts of Mariela Castro.

[loco48]

04:22 PM on 05/11/2012

Did we pay reparations to the black slaves we had?

[SigmundF]

08:27 PM on 05/11/2012

No, we did not, that's why we condemn slaves’ owners and traffickers........ and that's why we must to condemn castrofascism too for not to pay reparations to people jailed and condemned to forced work due their homosexual condition and not to pay reparations to relatives of people killed because their sexual preferences and people expelled out Cuba because they gay condition.

[maya0]

11:22 AM on 05/11/2012

And this is a dictators daughter? The time to end the embargo is now. But the Batista gene is still rampet in Miami, as their rants on these posts show.

[Humberto Capiro]

07:53 PM on 05/11/2012

IF YOUR TERM "RANTS" MEANS SHARING OUR STORIES! YOU BET! AND THAT DEFAMATION TACTIC ABOUT "BATISTIANOS" GETS OLD AND NOT ACCURATE! SEE BELOW! AND WHY IS IT THAT YOU CUBAN COMMUNITY DEFAMERS NEVER PUT LINKS TO SUPPORT YOUR "RANTS"??

BOOK: Political Disaffection in Cuba’s Revolution and Exodus - Silvia Pedraza - Cambridge University Press

Cuba’s Refugees: Manifold Migrations
The triumph of the Cuban revolution was one of the most popular political events of the 20th century Romantic in its execution, expressing a call for social justice, it had vast international support. Yet by the end of the century, 40 years later, a very sizable proportion of the Cuban population had left for other lands.Working both with U.S. and Cuban statistics, Antonio Aja- D´ıaz (2006) of the Center for Migration Studies at the University of Havana estimates that between 1959 and 2004 roughly 1,359,650 Cubans left Cuba for various countries and by different means. Because the Cuban population has grown from 5.8 million at the time of the 1953 census to 9.7 million at the 1981 census and 11.2 million in 2000 (Mart´ınez-Fern´andez 2003a), that number probably represents from 12 to 15 percent of the Cuban population. This study captures the process of political disaffection – the disappointment and sense of betrayal – that led so many Cubans, many of them ardent supporters of the revolution initially, to leave their homeland for other lands.

http://www.cambridge.org/servlet/file/store6/item2375380/version1/item_9780521687294_excerpt.pdf

[Fireslayer]

04:42 AM on 05/11/2012

Obama finally takes a principled stand and supports human rights in a big way. This is the essence of leadership. He is on the right side of history. Others will follow.

[SigmundF]

09:52 AM on 05/11/2012

hehehe...... Obama would get even republican to get votes...... he is desperated due last polls

[Tsvi1]

02:53 PM on 05/11/2012

I hate being the grammar Nazi but I actually cant understand what you wrote or what you meant because your sentence structure is so off.

[Walter Teague]

09:32 PM on 05/10/2012

Sometimes we should praise someone for doing the right and helpful thing, even if many of their other actions are harmful. I'm not talking about Mariela Castro who has been working against sexual backwardness for years, but for Obama doing the right thing for Gay rights, even if pushed by Biden, Ron Reagan, his children? and his need to reinvigorate the youth enthusiasm for his waring presidency. I will shout against Obama's violence and lies, but here he is doing the right thing, even if for political reasons.

Mr. Humberto Caprio once again jumps in shouting (all CAPS) against anyone praised for actually trying to make things better in Cuba. Mariela Castro speaks up for sexual rights worldwide and sees progress in Obama's statement. Mr. Caprio on the other-hand, seems compelled to attack her and anyone working for progress in Cuba. What are his motivations and why would he do this? Check out his writings. For example on how things were supposedly not that bad in per-revolutionary Cuba. The Castro family and many others in Cuba disagreed and still do.

To assess a persons arguments, it helps to look at their way of seeing reality and if their compassion discriminates. Ms. Mariela Castro’s continues to bravely and compassionately work to expand human rights and empathy. So check out these different people and decide for yourself. Cuba was "pretty good in 1958 and before?" For whom and how? Obviously different realities for different people.

[Humberto Capiro]

10:23 PM on 05/10/2012

Walter Teague!! IM JUST PUTTING CONTEXT INFORMATION ON THE GAY CUBAN EXPERIENCE! ARE YOU AGAINST MY FREEDOM OF SPEECH & EXPRESSION?? IM CUBAN YOU KNOW, BORN THERE! WE CUBANS SPEAK AND WRITE LOUD! YOU NEED TO TAKE SOME MINORITY SENSITIVITY TRAINING! WHY ARE YOU PICKING ON MY CAPS?? AND WHY DONT YOU USE YOUR REAL NAME LIKE ME??

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: DOCUMENT - CUBA: ROUTINE REPRESSION: POLITICAL SHORT-TERM DETENTIONS AND HARASSMENT IN CUBA- 2012
The Cuban government wages a permanent campaign of harassment and short-term detentions of political opponents to stop them from demanding respect for civil and political rights. Since Amnesty International’s last report on the respect for the freedom of expression in Cuba, published in June 2010, (Restrictions on freedom of expression in Cuba, Index: AMR 25/005/2010) the situation has further deteriorated with a steady increase in the number of arbitrary detentions. Criticism of the government is not tolerated in Cuba and it is routinely punished with arbitrary and short-term detentions, “acts of repudiation” (demonstrations led by government supporters with the alleged participation of state security officials aimed at harassing and intimidating government critics), intimidation, harassment and politically motivated criminal prosecutions.

The authorities continue to deny those wanting political change in Cuba their right to express and share their ideas freely and without reprisal or retaliation.

CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE REPORT!

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR25/007/2012/en/ccc6aeba-e892-4079-9e4a-63eebecd8a76/amr250072012en.html

[WhereIsTheTruth]

11:17 PM on 05/10/2012

"WHY ARE YOU PICKING ON MY CAPS??" Perhaps his issue is that writing in all capital letters is considered yelling, which is annoying and rude.

[Walter Teague]

11:21 PM on 05/10/2012

Writing in CAPS is rude behavior not because you are Cuban, but because its difficulty to read in English text. Check out thousands of chat and comment sites and you will see that this is commonly understood. Also, when a person feels compelled to SHOUT as you seem to need to do when making points, it has the effect of blocking listening or considering others’ opinions. For example, on what basis did you assume I "don't want to use my real name?"

You seem to assume that by disagreeing with a source you feel supports your opinions, people are denying your rights or authority. Amnesty International is a very political organization. Many people disagree with its selective "findings" and opinions. You don't? Fine.

I urge anyone researching the complex realities of Cuban society today, look at the background and sources of funding of all "research."

A glaring example you seem to uncritically accept, is the US media support of Alan Gross as an innocent supporter of free speech. Check out the price, paid by US taxpayers like you and I, of the equipment he brought to Cuba. Bgan equipment costs thousands of dollars each and if used only 2 hours a day, would cost over $3,000 per month for each. Free speech, supported by a US government agency dedicated to overthrowing the Cuban government?. I think not, maybe you do. There again is a difference. I want Cuba to stay at peace and thrive.

[SigmundF]

10:42 PM on 05/10/2012

Mariela Castro is not working for any progress in Cuba but working for disguise regimes crimes against homosexuals..... in one hand she create an "pro-gay" organization but in the other hand she and her father harass and repress all homosexuals that are not in her pro castrofascist gay organization..... her slogan can be: "You are with castrofascism you are a good gay, you are not with castrofascism you are not even gay but enemy".
You can be sure Mr. Humberto has not hidden motivation but the freedom of all Cubans ..... gay or not gay.
By other side if you have enough knowledge about Cuba’s history you can try to demonstrate Cuba was not better before castrofascism..... be our guest!!!!

[lightbulb10]

09:21 AM on 05/11/2012

Yea, Castro and American - does this really mix yet?

You're going to get sooo much interested, engaged feedback here - people are really going to take notice of her.

[jessdog]

06:45 PM on 05/11/2012

And the GOP also hates gays.

[Shomali]

09:20 PM on 05/10/2012

It is amazing to see that the South Florida Cuban are mostly in the anti-gay rights camp, along with the rest of the Republicans, and the Cuba Cubans are on the side of gay rights with the rest of the civilized people.

[SigmundF]

10:49 PM on 05/10/2012

Your lack of knowledge about Cuban exiles is notorious....... you evidently don't know that South Beach is Florida gay capital just because Cubans..... you evidently don't know that most Cuban gays escaped Cuba in the last 53 years because castrofascist repression and harassment on them.... castro fascism even created special concentration camps for gays where thousands of gays died under torture, beating, hunger and forced work..... che guevara was the manager of one of those camps with the highest record of killing, he ordered to hang a sign in the main gate of the camp that said "The work will make them straight"......... please people, before spiting venom get illustrated about the matter.

[Shomali]

11:59 PM on 05/10/2012

I live there and I have an unbiased view. Miami is not majority Cubans anymore but Colombian, except in the ranks of the Corrupt political elites.

[Shomali]

12:07 AM on 05/11/2012

By the way South Beach all the way on the coast/beaches has historically been Jewish part of Miami ( the Liberal part). Cubans historically settled in the Calle Ocho corridor and then in Hialeah. Of course the rich ones settled in the Coral Gables where Jeb Bush lives.

[Humberto Capiro]

08:54 PM on 05/10/2012

LGBT RIGHTS IN CUBA: RECENT CRACKDOWNS
In 2004, the BBC reported that "Cuban police have once again launched a campaign against homosexuals, specifically directed at travestis (transvestites) whom they are arresting if they are dressed in women's clothing."[14] This follows from reports in 2001 of a police campaign against homosexuals and transvestites, who police prevented from meeting in the street and fined, closing down meeting places.[15]

According to the World Policy Institute (2003), the Cuban government prohibits LGBT organizations and publications, gay pride marches and gay clubs.[17] All officially sanctioned clubs and meeting places are required to be heterosexual. The only gay and lesbian civil rights organization, the Cuban Association of Gays and Lesbians, which formed in 1994, was closed in 1997 and its members were taken into custody. In 1997, Agencia de Prensa Independiente de Cuba (the Cuban Independent Press Agency) reported, that Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar and French designer Jean Paul Gaultier were among several hundred people detained in a raid on Havana's most popular gay discothèque, El Periquiton.[19] In a U.S. Government report reprinted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Cuban customers of the club were fined and released from a police station the next day,[20] although according to a 1997 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, many of the detainees claimed physical abuse and that two busloads of foreigners were transported to immigration authorities for a document check.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Cuba

[Shomali]

09:25 PM on 05/10/2012

Old and wrong news. The national health care in Cuba now provides free health care to Transsexuals including surgery if they wanted and hormonal medications. Here is a medical paper on it as of 2010:

http://www.medicc.org/mediccreview/index.php?issue=20&id=252&a=vahtml

[Humberto Capiro]

09:52 PM on 05/10/2012

WHAT IF YOU DONT WANT A SEX-CHANGE OPERATION?? WHAT WILL THE ORDINARY CUBAN DO??

YOUTUBE : Cuba Hospital Calixto Garcia Hospital Emergency Room - Poor state of the main Emergency Room in central Havana, right in front of the University of Havana, Cuba. Notice the bloody head of the man in the hallway. Even worse, the nurses/doctors in the last room showing lack of hygiene, no gloves, the family member holding back the old man but the hospital staff won't touch the patient.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK3AnxSgdxA&feature=share

YOUTUBE : Patients in Hospital for Cubans part 2 - More videos showing patient's rooms at the 10 de Octubre and Miguel enriquez hospitals in Havana. Notice how some of the beds have bed sheets that are not the typical white sheets used in most hospitals. This is because many patients have to bring their own bed sheets, pillows and towels.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8T4SinsfWQ&feature=related

[Humberto Capiro]

10:29 PM on 05/10/2012

TRY GOING TO HER "BLOG" AND LEAVE A COMMENT! THERE IS NOT OPTION TO DO THAT! WHAT IS SHE SO AFRAID OF??

EL BLOG DE MARIELA CASTRO link
http://elblogdemarielacastro.blogspot.com/

[Humberto Capiro]

07:50 PM on 05/10/2012

MARIELA CASTRO IS A TRUE HYPOCRITE, JUST LIKE HER FATHER & UNCLE! TRY GOING TO HER "BLOG" AND LEAVE A COMMENT! THERE IS NOT OPTION TO DO THAT! WHAT IS SHE SO AFRAID OF??

EL BLOG DE MARIELA CASTRO link
http://elblogdemarielacastro.blogspot.com/

LGBTQ Nation: United Nations vote will lead to more LGBT murders, activists claim- By Mark Singer
A vote last week by the United Nations General Assembly Human Rights Committee has LGBT and human rights activists outraged over the decision to remove “sexual orientation” from a resolution that protects people from arbitrary executions.
The UN’s main assembly normally passes similar resolutions, condemning extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions and other killings every two years, and the most recent resolution in 2008 declaration had contained an specific reference to LGBT killings.

Representatives from the African nations of Morocco and Mali had introduced an amendment on behalf of other African and Islamic nations calling for deletion of the phrase “sexual orientation” and instead substituting the phrase “discriminatory reasons on any basis” in its place.

Following is the list of countries that voted to remove “sexual orientation” from the anti-execution resolution:

Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Botswana, Brunei Dar-Sala, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, China, Comoros, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba,.....

http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2010/11/united-nations-vote-will-lead-to-more-lgbt-murders-activists-claim/

[Humberto Capiro]

07:36 PM on 05/10/2012

YOUTUBE : CUBA DOCUMENTARY - "Conducta Impropria" - (Improper Conduct) - Part 1 of 12 - Mauvaise Conduite or Improper Conduct is a 1984 documentary film directed by Néstor Almendros and Orlando Jiménez Leal. The documentary interviews Cuban refugees to explore the Cuban government's imprisonment of homosexuals, political dissidents, and Jehovah's Witnesses into concentration camps under its policy of Military Units to Aid Protection. The documentary was produced with the support of French television Antenne 2 and won the Best Documentary Audience Award at the 1984 San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcF5ubWiy5k

[JacksonHts]

08:57 PM on 05/10/2012

I think the UMAP also had an indoctrination element to them, to try and "correct" the respective groups who were sent to them. Kind of like praying the gay away.

[Shomali]

09:17 PM on 05/10/2012

We are in 2012, 1984 was 28 years ago dude.

[Humberto Capiro]

09:51 PM on 05/10/2012

YOU NEED GLASSES "DUDE"!! THEY ARE AVAILABLE FOR 99c!! GO!!

LGBTQ Nation: United Nations vote will lead to more LGBT murders, activists claim- By Mark Singer
A vote last week by the United Nations General Assembly Human Rights Committee has LGBT and human rights activists outraged over the decision to remove “sexual orientation” from a resolution that protects people from arbitrary executions.
The UN’s main assembly normally passes similar resolutions, condemning extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions and other killings every two years, and the most recent resolution in 2008 declaration had contained an specific reference to LGBT killings.

Representatives from the African nations of Morocco and Mali had introduced an amendment on behalf of other African and Islamic nations calling for deletion of the phrase “sexual orientation” and instead substituting the phrase “discriminatory reasons on any basis” in its place.

Following is the list of countries that voted to remove “sexual orientation” from the anti-execution resolution:

Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Botswana, Brunei Dar-Sala, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, China, Comoros, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba,.....

http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2010/11/united-nations-vote-will-lead-to-more-lgbt-murders-activists-claim/

[SigmundF]

10:58 PM on 05/10/2012

Suposeding you are right..... tyrants in Cuba are the same 50, 40, 30, 28, 10 years ago killed, jailed in concentration camps, and segregated homosexuals..... what make you think those thugs changed?????/...... maybe the fact that they decided to lure gays now and said "Ops, we killed some thousand gays before, sorry, we are now good people and we love gays?????!!!!!..... come on dude, be serious.