HAVANA — Cuba’s gay community celebrated unprecedented openness — and high-ranking political alliances — with a government-backed campaign against homophobia Saturday.
The meeting at a convention center in Havana’s Vedado district might have been the largest gathering of openly gay activists ever on the communist-run island. President Raul Castro’s daughter Mariela, who has promoted the rights of sexual minorities, presided.
“This is a very important moment for us, the men and women of Cuba, because for the first time we can gather in this way and speak profoundly and with scientific basis about these topics,” said Castro, director of Cuba’s Center for Sexual Education.
Mariela Castro joined government leaders and hundreds of activists at the one-day conference for the International Day Against Homophobia. State television in Cuba, where prejudice against gays is deeply rooted, gave prime-time play Friday to the U.S. film “Brokeback Mountain,” which tells the story of two cowboys who conceal their homosexual affair. The Associated Press
