Raul Castro's Daughter Presides at Government-backed Gay Rights Event

As the Christofascists mobilize in California to attempt to overturn last week's ruling of the California Supreme Court striking down the bans against gay marriage, it is noteworthy and a sad commentary that the government of Cuba is becoming more gay friendly than many in this country - which is allegedly the "land of the free." I continue to believe that fanatic fundamentalist Christians and their man, the Chimperator, and those like him in the GOP pose a serious threat to personal liberties in this country. Hopefully, the GOP will suffer an extreme defeat in November which might perhaps enliven the few remaining moderates left in the Party to throw the Christianists under the bus in order to steer the Party back to some minimal level of rationality. Note how Mariela Castro (pictured at left) references "scientific basis" for sexual orientation - while science is ignored by the whacked out fundamentalists and GOP in this country. Here are some story highlights from MSNBC:
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HAVANA - Cuba's gay community celebrated unprecedented openness — and high-ranking political alliances — with a government-backed campaign against homophobia on Saturday. The meeting at a convention center in Havana's Vedado district may 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.

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"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 that featured shows, lectures, panel discussions and book presentations. A station also offered blood-tests for sexually transmitted diseases.

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Cuban state television gave prime-time play Friday to the U.S. film "Brokeback Mountain," which tells the story of two cowboys who conceal their homosexual affair.

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Defending equal rights for Cubans, of all sexual orientations, is a key principal of the Cuban revolution led by her uncle Fidel Castro, who overthrew dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959, she said. "The freedom of sexual choice and gender identity (are) exercises in equality and social justice," she said.