Raul Castro Backs Gay Rights

Mariela Castro leads a Gay Rights march in Havana

Yes, you read the post caption correctly - the leader of Cuba has become more more supportive of equality for LGBT people than the presumptive leader of the Republican Party.  While most of the world marches towards the future, Romney and the GOP march backwards in time.   I guess Mitt longs for the days when he had the "freedom" to bully and terrorize gay students and the Christianist base of the GOP most certainly longs for the days when they could openly and sometimes violently discriminate against all minorities with impunity.  It's a f*cked version of "freedom," but hey, welcome to today's Republican Party.  After speaking at Liberty University yesterday, one has to wonder how soon it will be before Romney speaks before KKK, neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups and gatherings.  Here are highlights from ABC News on events in Cuba: 

Cuban president Raul Castro backs greater gay rights and ending discrimination against homosexuals, his daughter Mariela, a famed sexologist, said during a colourful gay rights march in Havana.  Traditionally stigmatised in Cuba, homosexuality was fiercely repressed for many years by the regime, which interned homosexuals in work camps in the 1960s and ostracized them in the 1970s under the rule of Fidel Castro.

Mariela Castro runs Cuba's National Centre for Sex Education (CENESEX) and is an outspoken advocate for the rights of homosexuals and transsexuals in Communist-ruled Cuba.

Ms Castro is pushing for passage of legislation that would legalize same-sex unions, but stops short of endorsing gay marriage.  She is hopeful that politicians will take up the bill sometime this year.

The president's daughter led a colourful conga line that was part of a march through the streets of Havana attended by about 400 transvestites as part of festivities marking the Fifth Cuban Day Against Homophobia.
 

In January, Cuba's Communist Party Congress resolved "to fight against all forms of discrimination, including against sexual discrimination, and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and sexual identity."  "It's a hugely important first step," Ms Castro said earlier this week.

The Washington Post also has coverage on events in Havana and here are excerpts:

The daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro said during a rousing gay rights march Saturday that her father advocated eliminating sexual discrimination, and reiterated her own hope the country would soon legalize same sex marriage.

Mariela Castro, a noted gay rights advocate and head of Cuba’s National Center for Sex Education, also repeated her praise for U.S. President Barack Obama’s public remarks in favor of same sex marriage, saying the American leader’s words “have great value because of the influence they might have” on others.

Somehow I don't think we'll see Ann Romney or any GOP figure supporting the equal humanity of all people any time soon.