05/09/2005
Gays of the Mariel Boatlift
I hadn't read before about the gay population on the Mariel boatlift, which brought 125,000 Cubans fleeing their country to Key West in a mass exodus in 1980.
The Miami Herald takes a look at the plight of gays and lesbians in Cuba in the 60's and 70's, and where some of the gay survivors of that flight by water are today. Many heterosexuals at that time tried to pass themselves off as gay in order to get permission to get on the boat. Castro couldn't get rid of the gays fast enough.
"From the early stages of the massive exodus, the regime described homosexuals as part of the ''scum'' that needed to be discarded so the socialist society could be purified. To flaunt homosexuality -- or to fake it -- before the authorities was a sure way to obtain an exit permit."
In Miami, they often found they suffered doubly, stigmatized as immigrants and homosexuals.
Posted 9:38 AM EST by Andy Towle in Current Affairs | Permalink
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Apart from beeing rather cute,with his performance in 'Before Night falls'javier bardem has proven to be one of our coolest actors at the moment
check out http://www.finelinefeatures.com/sites/bnfalls/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0247196/
the life story about cuban writer Reynaldo Arenas.
Posted by: marcel | May 9, 2005 10:05:29 AM
There's a great scene in the movie "Before Night Falls" where Javier Bardem is trying to get permission to leave on the boatlift. The Cuban army officer processing passengers makes him walk across the floor and back and observes how swishy his walk is - to confirm that he really is gay. You have to laugh.
Posted by: stephen | May 9, 2005 10:58:07 AM
Good thing you guys brought up 'Before Night Falls' casue as soon as I saw this article, that's what immediately came to my mind. And yes the scene where Bardem swishes his way into freedom is great and pretty funny to! I also remember Johnny Depp looking surprisingly good in drag (remember that scene?)
Posted by: Alex | May 9, 2005 11:43:06 AM
Thanks for posting the link to the article.
Posted by: Ed | May 9, 2005 12:44:18 PM
Johnny Depp looked amazing in drag, but, even more surprisingly, pulled off the "I'm packing an entire novel up my ass" look really well. God knows I've tried to replicate his success, but I've had no luck.
Posted by: Josh K. | May 9, 2005 1:44:59 PM