[News] Sexual rights and emancipation in Cuba

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2020-05-18/sexual-rights-and-emancipation-in-cuba
Sexual
rights and emancipation in Cuba
May 18, 2020 - Mariela Castro Espín <http://en.granma.cu/archivo?a=2101>
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The 1959 revolution represented Cuba’s achievement of national sovereignty;
the launching of a project of social justice and equity; and the beginning
of transformations in the nation and its culture, the most profound and
radical in their history.

An event of such magnitude could not but completely change policies
regarding gender and sexualities. This has been a process of complex
cultural metamorphosis, leading to confrontations and dialogue between
generations, cultural patterns, classes and social strata, in which women
have been protagonists and promoters.

In this scenario of broad popular participation, the first actions were
taken to implement political, economic and social changes that modified the
role of men and women in society and within the family, in the
relationships of couples, in sexualities, in intergenerational relations.

Between 1959 and 1961, the young Revolutionary state approved significant
laws that responded to longstanding aspirations frustrated by the
politicking of traditional parties, their corruption and servility to the
powerful nation to the North. Outstanding among these was the Fundamental
Law of the Republic of Cuba, approved on February 7, 1959, which
established equal salaries for men and women.

On August 23, 1960, the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) was officially
established as an organized mass movement of women in civil society. Since
then, women implemented our own project of empowerment as subjects by law,
with a profound impact on all of society, politics and culture.

At the same time, different initiatives of broad citizen participation
emerged, such as popular mobilizations in defense of terrorist aggressions
organized by the government of the United States of America; women came to
their homes dressed as militia members and their image in this new social
role became everyday.

The broad incorporation of women into the workplace and a wide range of
public events had a great impact on sexuality (Núñez, 2001). The new social
condition of women contributed to changing the prevailing reproductive
pattern from six children per woman to less than one son or daughter per
woman (Alfonso, 2006), although the latest National Fertility Survey
reports that the reproductive ideal for women is 2.13 and for men 2.31
(ONEI, 2009).

As a result of joint work by the FMC and the new National Public Health
System, the National Family Planning Program was established in 1964 and in
1965 the voluntary termination of pregnancy was institutionalized as a free
service, performed by professionals in public health institutions.

This was done with the goal of reducing maternal mortality and promoting
and guaranteeing women's right to make their own decisions about their
bodies.

These decisions, along with other national program, contributed to a
decrease in maternal mortality, which in 1959 was 120 per 100,000 live
births, and by 1966 had been reduced to 60. Rigorous monitoring of this
indicator to reduce its predictable causes is an ongoing task and one of
the most important components of the Ministry’s Mother and Child Program,
reporting a rate of 36 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2019.

In accordance its own mechanisms of participation, in 1972, the FMC
established a multidisciplinary, inter-sectoral working group to manage and
develop a National Sex Education Program.

The goal of this initiative was to respond to one of the proposals
expressed by women in our annual plenary sessions: to prepare themselves in
sex education in order to better guide their daughters and sons, and thus
avoid the uncertainty they suffered. The National Sex Education Working
Group was created with this premise.

The importance of sex education was acknowledged at the Second Congress of
the FMC in 1974 and at the First Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba in
1975. Since then, sexuality education has been expressed in state policy,
with families and schools recognized as the institutions with the greatest
responsibility in the matter.

The policies of the 1960s were expressed in new laws during the 1970s, most
notably the Family Code adopted in 1975 as a result of a broad process of
popular consultation. Considered the most advanced for its time in the
entire continent, it recognized the right of men and women to full
sexuality and to share the same domestic and educational responsibilities.

As a result of the policy developed during the 1970s, Cuba was the first
country to sign, and the second to ratify, government commitment to the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW, 1979).

Cuban culture has a strong patriarchal Hispanic-African heritage, with a
long homophobic tradition, a model of domination imposed by the Spanish
colonial system and its official religion, along with a worldwide
scientific approach that stigmatized homosexuality.

When the Revolution triumphed, medical, psychological, social and legal
sciences around the world took positions against homosexuality, and
considered it an example of illness, insanity, moral decadence and
deviation from social norms.

Unfortunately, the permanence of institutionalized homophobia in the first
decades of the Revolution has not been analyzed in all its complexity. This
situation is exploited by those who only see it as an opportunity to profit
from the well-funded market of attacks on Cuba. Given this reality, it is
essential that our institutions critically analyze practices that are
inconsistent with the humanist spirit of the revolutionary process.

David Carter (2004), in his book Stonewall, on the protests that ignited
the gay revolution, wrote, in 1961, that laws criminalizing homosexuality
in the United States were tougher than those in Cuba, Russia or East
Germany, countries customarily criticized by the U.S. government for their
"despotic methods" (Carter D., p.16).

Understanding the current situation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and
intersex (LGBTI+) persons in Cuba, and the need to address attention to
their needs as a question of policy, demands that we understand the
historical evolution of the issue within the Cuban Revolution’s social
agenda.

The National Working Group on Sex Education (Gntes, 1972), led by the FMC,
became the National Center for Sex Education (Cenesex) in 1988, and since
then has been subordinated to the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap).

Cenesex's mission is to contribute to the development of comprehensive
education on sexuality, sexual health, recognition and guarantee of the
sexual rights of the entire population. Toward this end, the Center
develops educational and communication strategies that include different
national public welfare campaigns.

The initiative to celebrate the International Day against Homophobia and
Transphobia, beginning May 17, 2007, has had significant impact on the
mobilization of the Cuban population’s social conscience.

We welcomed the proposal by the French-Caribbean professor, Louis-Georges
Tin, to place the celebration on the date of the World Health
Organization’s decision to formally de-pathologize homosexuality, leaving
behind unscientific points of view that contributed to stigma and
discrimination. This occurred on May 17, 1990.

Since 2008, we have dedicated the entire month of May to developing
educational and communication activities that promote respect for free
sexual orientation and gender identities, as an exercise in justice and
social equity, under the name of Cuban Days against Homophobia and
Transphobia.

These days are coordinated by CENESEX, through Minsap, along with other
state institutions, the government and the indispensable support of the
Party at all levels. Campaigns have been focused on the family, school,
work and, more recently, recognition of all rights for all people, without
discrimination due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Cuban Days against Homophobia and Transphobia have undoubtedly had an
impact on the vision of the country approved by the 7th Congress of the
Communist Party of Cuba (2016) and the National Assembly of People's Power
(2017) after a rigorous process of popular consultation.

The Conceptualization of the Cuban Economic and Social Model of Socialist
Development, and the National Plan of Economic and Social Development
through 2030, expressly mention the need to confront all forms of
discrimination, including that motivated by sexual orientation or gender
identity.

In total harmony with these decisions, since 2019, our Constitution
textually recognizes sexual and reproductive rights, prohibits
discrimination against persons with non-homonormative sexualities, protects
family diversity and clearly regulates marriage as a legal institution
accessible to all persons without discrimination of any kind.

Of course, we still have a long way to go. That is why we educate for love
and respectful coexistence, not for the perpetuation of relationships of
domination or violence. We educate in the humanist and democratic
principles that are inspired by the emancipatory paradigm of socialism, in
freedom as a complex individual and collective responsibility. We will
continue working until all justice is achieved.
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