Monday, July 14, 2014

Synecdoche of the LGTB Community

Cuba: Synecdoche of the LGTB Community
July 14, 2014
Haroldo Dilla Alfonso

HAVANA TIMES — Activists of Cuba's LGTB community organized around the
National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX) headed by Mariela Castro
– the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro – welcomed the New Year
brimming with optimism.

In December of 2013, Cuba's National Assembly of the People's Power
(Parliament) officially closed the debate surrounding the country's new
Labor Law and, following approval of the legislation, referred the
document to a specialized commission tasked with incorporating the
petitions made by the CENESEX – ensuring no one in the workplace
suffered discrimination because of sexual orientation or for being HIV
positive – in the most advantageous way possible. This procedure was
certainly a bit strange (as the parliament approved the legislation
before its final version had been drafted), but Cuba's National Assembly
isn't exactly a house of parliament and the discussion had ended with a
spiel by the vice president announcing a positive tilt to the balance.

A well-known gay rights activist supportive of the regime declared he
had been left speechless with joy. Another – a reputable medical doctor
– praised the measure as a leap forward in the strengthening of "Cuban
democracy and republicanism", proclaiming that Cuba "was one of the few
countries in the world where a gender focus is applied."

Both the activist and doctor were, in fact, undergoing that
metamorphosis that leads an individual from excessive virtue to sinful
indulgence, and I do not believe the step, had it been taken, had the
democratic and republican significance the physician claimed it did. Nor
would it have pulled Cuba out of the sorry place it's in regarding
sexual diversity. It did, on the other hand, legitimize the work of
Mariela Castro and those close to her, consolidating her political
position within the system.

Ultimately, however, none of that took place, for the commission in
question eliminated every reference to sexual diversity in the document.
When this happened, the gay rights activist regained his speech and
complained bitterly about something we all know: our poor excuse for a
parliament is not exactly transparent.

I believe this step back – not only for the LGTB community, but for all
of Cuban society as well – teaches us two things.

The first is that the movement for the rights of different sexual
orientations cannot continue to move forward in the shadow of the
CENESEX, even if it considers this institution its ally. The
commission's refusal to include the issue of sexual diversity in the new
legislation is nothing other than a pale and discrete illustration of
the militant homophobia of Cuba's political class, an attitude that, for
many years, has expressed itself as the direct repression, exclusion and
discrimination of homosexuals.

Government activists have always preferred to advance on tip-toes,
highlighting the "achievements of the revolution" and the aspiration to
treat homosexuals more decorously than they have been for more than
fifty years. It is as though they wanted to throw out the dirty water
and keep the gleaming child. What Cubans – be they homosexual, bisexual,
heterosexual, transsexual or asexual – actually need to do today is
scrutinize the dirty water some to understand our problems in all of
their complexity.

The second lesson has to do with Cuba's rigid sectarianism. The
political putrefaction suffered by Cuban society today lies, most of
all, in the capacity of the post-revolutionary elite to fragment society
and isolate each of its different parts.

The demands made by Cuba's emerging civil society (I am not referring to
the opposition, which had its own debate elsewhere) generally assume
this fragmentation as a given, and this allows the political class to
"manage" these demands without much tension or uncomfortable
politicization. Because of this, when they present themselves as though
they stood for the whole, like a social synecdoche, they achieve nearly
nothing.

I am not questioning whether different social sectors ought to demand
specific rights, on the basis of their identity. Cuban society is
diverse and, as such, ought to demand representation. But it must do so
with the understanding that they are parts of a larger system. It is
impossible for homosexuals to enjoy inalienable rights (such as those
Mariela Castro speaks of in her frivolous spiels) if a system of
consecrated civil, political and social rights does not exist in
society. African Cubans will not be able to eliminate racist
discrimination if they tolerate other forms of discrimination. While
Cuba's political regime continues to regard the rights of people as an
administrative issue and becomes more or less permissive depending on
circumstance, there will be no true rights for anyone.

This is what happened with the demands made by the CENESEX and with the
entirety of the legislation in question. Ultimately, the issue of sexual
preference is a secondary issue when it comes to Cuba's new labor law.

The truly serious thing is that the Labor Law forbids the creation of
independent unions, does not envisage the right to strike, reduces the
social rights of workers and does not acknowledge the right of workers
to keep their jobs regardless of their political opinions. It
constitutes another step taken by Cuba's political elite in the process
of establishing an authoritarian capitalist system, for which they
require a mass of dispossessed and subjugated workers.

Needless to say, had Raul Castro wanted to please his daughter on this
issue, it would have sufficed to slam his fist on the table for all of
the country's deputies to have introduced the petitions made by the
CENESEX. This would have given the regime a much-needed semblance of
open-mindedness. If he didn't, he must have good reasons I am unaware of.

To venture one hypothesis, I believe we witnessed one of the things Raul
Castro offered as gift to the Catholic hierarchy, which could prove more
cooperative politically in exchange of greater control over those fields
where it can unfold its conservative vocation in full. This may again
prove too much for the gay rights activist who welcomed the New Year
thinking something new and better was coming, and leave him speechless.

Source: Cuba: Synecdoche of the LGTB Community - Havana Times.org -
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=104836

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