THIS BOOKis a gay Canadian’s attempt to come to terms with the Cuban revolutionary process and the place of homosexuals within it. To understand the pages that follow the reader needs to know my own viewpoint and preconceptions. Therefore this introduction serves to introduce the author as well as the subject.

Postrevolutionary Cuba has at various times filled me with hope and admiration, exasperation and frustration, anger and despair. I have admired the social changes that have benefited countless Cubans, and I have been outraged by the Castro regime’s authoritarian treatment of some of its citizens, including friends of...

MOST VISITORSwho come to Cuba to study the revolution first set foot at José Martí airport in Havana and acquire their initial impressions of the country from the nation’s capital. A visit to Havana can be as deceiving today as it was before 1959. Until then Havana lived off the wealth produced in the countryside and enjoyed an immeasurably higher standard ofliving than did Cuba’s rural hinterland. There was a large middle class, which enjoyed many of the amenities associated with the American way of life. The country as a whole suffered from underdevelopment, manifested especially in high unemployment...

THE OPPRESSIONof homosexuals in contemporary Cuba cannot be fully understood without relating it to the ways in which male sexuality and gender identity were constructed prior to the revolution. These are linked to the way in which male and female relations were historically organized. For the overall character of a patriarchal society will determine how men relate to each other as much as it determines how they will relate to women. In general, there is a correlation between the oppression of women and the oppression of homosexuals. Still there is no necessary correlation between the latter and the incidence...

AT THE OUTSETof the Cuban revolution, machismo was deeply ingrained in the fabric of Cuban society. Gender roles were clearly identified and sharply differentiated. Men were expected to be strong, dominant, and sexually compulsive. Women were expected to be vulnerable and chaste. Because of this, many women were forced to lead domesticated lives within patriarchal family structures, finding fulfillment as wives, and mothers and at best living in the reflected glory of their menfolk’s social status.

The family was typically the most important institution in prerevolutionary Cuba. It was an extraordinarily strong one¹ with an influence reinforced by the...

MEMORIES OFthe systematic oppression of homosexuals during the period of the Military Units to Aid Production (UMAP) and then during much of the 1970S still color many older homosexuals’ perceptions of the Cuban state. The major milestone of this repressive era was the 1971 Congress on Education apd Culture, which adopted a number of homophobic resolutions. Younger gays are much less affected by events that in some cases occurred before they were born. Still, the history serves as an everpresent reminder of their vulnerability in an authoritarian regime that has never validated their existence and social contributions, let alone...

THE INSTITUTIONALIZEDhomophobia of the 1960s and 197o—when the policies and actions of the Cuban government seemed designed to incite the prejudice against homosexuals already deeply rooted in Cuban culture—is much diminished today. Still, the Cuban regime’s cultural and ideological preoccupations have come in waves, and there is no guarantee that increased official tolerance(not support)of homosexuals cannot be reversed. Certainly there is no institutional protection for homosexuality because of the real power structure in Cuba (that is, Fidel Castro and those in his trust), as opposed to the formal organization of People’s Power (poder Popular) and...

THE OPPRESSIONof homosexuals in Cuba has its origins in a patriarchal culture that celebrates conventional masculinity at the expense of women and of men whose public behavior is perceived as unmasculine. “Effeminate” men who do not exhibit the required traits of masculinity are labeledmaricones. Homosexuals whose gender identity more closely resembles that associated with heterosexual males suffer less discrimination, but in the final analysis they too are considered to bemaricones. Effeminacy will be projected onto them even if it is not apparent in their behavior. The hegemony ofmachistavalues—and by extension homophobia—is weakened to...

IT WAS EVIDENTby the mid-1980s that Cuban gays had begun to feel much less intimidated by the state in relation to the way they publicly expressed the sexual dimension of their lives. They have become once again a visible part of street life in downtown Havana and to a lesser extent in some of the larger provincial cities. They are for the most part discreet in their public behavior, but no more so than homosexuals in most Latin American cities. Gays cruising on their own, as well as couples and larger groups socializing together, have become part of the...

BECAUSE OFgood fortune, circumstances, and certainly not least its commitment to preserving the health of its population, Cuba has so far been spared the worst effects of the global AIDS epidemic. As of December 31, 1994, Cuba had reported a total of only 342 people who had contracted AIDS, 218 of whom had died from the disease. An additional 1,099 individuals were reported as having tested HIV seropositive. Of these 783 were male and 316 female. Heterosexual males and females represented a clear majority of people who had AIDS or were HIV positive.¹ However, over time homosexual or bisexual...

THE CURRENTsituation 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 émigré gays and lesbians are willing to concede in public. Gay males are subject to discrimination, but their hardship is more a product of the society’s inheritedmachistaprejudices and of the regime’s generally authoritarian character than it is of any policy singling out homosexuals for persecution. Still, because the government does not permit issues to be raised outside its purview and because its...