• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Film/TV/Stream
  • Republicans
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Men
  • Trans Rights
  • Tech/Science
  • Royals
  • Monkeypox
  • Trump critic Liz Cheney falls in U.S. primary, Murkowski survives
  • 13 Reasons Why star Tommy Dorfman gets engaged to a woman.
  • Jonathan Van Ness blasts US government’s response to monkeypox outbreak

Cuba to Host International LGBT Conference Despite Criticism Over Human Rights Violations

Kyler Geoffroy May 5, 2014

ILGALAC

Next week Cuba will host the sixth International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association for Latin America and the Caribbean (ILGALAC) Regional Conference.

This will be the Communist country’s first time to host an international LGBT conference, a realization that isn’t sitting well with some who feel the conference shouldn’t take place in a country with such a lengthy record of human rights violations.

The Washington Blade reports:

CastroMariela Castro Espín, daughter of Cuban President Raúl Castro who is the director of Cuba’s National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX,) is president of the local committee that organized the ILGALAC conference.

Mariela Castro did not return the Washington Blade’s request for comment. CENESEX’s website prominently features information about the ILGALAC conference that includes a preliminary agenda.

“As the host country for the sixth ILGALAC Regional Conference, Cuba is not exempt from the problems of the region’s LGBTI communities,” states the organization. “The humanistic nature of the Cuban Revolution has focused on the human being in his teleological purposes since its beginning. Although the Cuban LGBTI movement does not have the organization of other international movements, the fight against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the country is now evident with more impact and achievements.”

Late last year, the Cuban parliament amended the country’s labor law to ban anti-gay employment discrimination. Many LGBT advocates also credit Cuba’s condom distribution campaign and sexual education cirriculum with producing one of the world’s lowest HIV rates.

Still, other argue Cuba’s less-than-stellar human rights record cannot be ignored: 

“Hosting a conference on LGBT rights is just another farcical attempt by the Cuban regime to pretend they care about anyone’s rights,” U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) told the Blade in a statement. “The sad reality is that the Cuban people are harassed, beaten and bullied for having a point of view that differs from the regime’s. This desperate move to seem tolerant does not even come close to obscuring the repressive reality on the island.

Ignacio Estrada Cepera, founder of the Cuban League Against AIDS, noted that the Cuban government forcibly quarantined people with HIV/AIDS in state-run sanitaria until 1993. Other LGBT activists in the country point to the forced labor camps to which the government sent more than 25,000 gay men and others deemed unfit for military service during the 1960s. 

Topics: AIDS, LGBT Rights, News More Posts About: Cuba, Cuba, Mariela Castro, Mariela Castro, News

Related Posts
  • Biden meets Lopez Obrador About Plans To Invest in Border Infrastructure And Gets Him To Pay for It….$1.5 Billion of it.
  • Russia Blocks Facebook, Accusing it of Restricting Access to Russian Media;
  • Duran Duran Has New Music And You Are About To Enjoy it. It’s 2021. Seriously.
  • 13 Reasons Why star Tommy Dorfman gets engaged to a woman.

    13 Reasons Why star Tommy Dorfman gets engaged to a woman.

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Tommy Dorfman reveals she is engaged to a woman. The ’13 Reasons Why’ actress – who came out as transgender in July 2021 and divorced from ex-husband Peter Zurkuhlen earlier this …Read More »
  • Jonathan Van Ness blasts US government’s response to monkeypox outbreak

    Jonathan Van Ness blasts US government’s response to monkeypox outbreak

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Jonathan Van Ness thinks the US government’s response to the monkeypox outbreak has been “fuelled by homophobia”. The 35-year-old TV star has blasted the government’s “botched response” to the health crisis …Read More »
  • Melissa Etheridge announces solo off-Broadway show

    Melissa Etheridge announces solo off-Broadway show

    Published by New York Daily News NEW YORK — Melissa Etheridge plans to be “the only one” to rock off-Broadway this fall. The Grammy and Academy Award-winning singer-songwriter announced that she will take center stage for …Read More »
  • Fun With The Familia! Madonna Lets Loose In Italy To Celebrate Her & Son Rocco’s Birthdays

    Fun With The Familia! Madonna Lets Loose In Italy To Celebrate Her & Son Rocco’s Birthdays

    Published by OK Magazine mega Twice as nice: Madonna took a trip to Italy to not only celebrate her own birthday, but her son Rocco Ritchie‘s too! The superstar, who turned 64, posted photos and videos …Read More »
Previous Post: « Oxford University Press To Release 672-Page Book On Trans Issues
Next Post: What To Watch This Week on TV: Bid Adieu to ‘Mindy’ and ‘New Girl’ – VIDEO »

Primary Sidebar

Adjacent News

  • Biden signs $430 billion climate, healthcare and tax bill

    Biden signs $430 billion climate, healthcare and tax bill

  • Judge schedules Thursday hearing on motion to unseal Trump search warrant materials

    Judge schedules Thursday hearing on motion to unseal Trump search warrant materials

  • Dr. Oz Loses $5 Million Of GOP Campaign Funding In Pennsylvania As His Poll Numbers Continue To Plummet

    Dr. Oz Loses $5 Million Of GOP Campaign Funding In Pennsylvania As His Poll Numbers Continue To Plummet

Good Trash: Going to Read It Somewhere, Y’know

  • Ellen Has Not Contacted Ex-Lover Anne Heche Following Fiery Crash Into LA Home

    Ellen Has Not Contacted Ex-Lover Anne Heche Following Fiery Crash Into LA Home

  • Pete Davidson Proposed to Kim Kardashian Before Their Breakup

    Pete Davidson Proposed to Kim Kardashian Before Their Breakup

  • New bombshell book on Trump reveals he wanted to be treated like Hitler: ‘Totally loyal’

    New bombshell book on Trump reveals he wanted to be treated like Hitler: ‘Totally loyal’

RSS Partner Links

  • Wrestle Wednesday
  • Song of the Day: 'Heaven Must Have Sent You' by Bonnie Pointer
  • Page 1 Roundup (08/17)
  • WATCH: Murray Bartlett and Jimmy Fallon share some special Olivia Newton-John memories on “Tonight Show”
  • Morning Wood
  • Biden Signs Inflation Reduction Act — Hands Signing Pen To Manchin
  • Encyclopedia Madonnica Update — Pre-Order!

Most Recent

  • Trump critic Liz Cheney falls in U.S. primary, Murkowski survives

    Trump critic Liz Cheney falls in U.S. primary, Murkowski survives

  • 13 Reasons Why star Tommy Dorfman gets engaged to a woman.

    13 Reasons Why star Tommy Dorfman gets engaged to a woman.

  • Jonathan Van Ness blasts US government’s response to monkeypox outbreak

    Jonathan Van Ness blasts US government’s response to monkeypox outbreak

  • Melissa Etheridge announces solo off-Broadway show

    Melissa Etheridge announces solo off-Broadway show

  • Fun With The Familia! Madonna Lets Loose In Italy To Celebrate Her & Son Rocco’s Birthdays

    Fun With The Familia! Madonna Lets Loose In Italy To Celebrate Her & Son Rocco’s Birthdays

  • Viola Davis joins ‘Hunger Games’ prequel in ‘cruel,’ ‘fearsome’ role

    Viola Davis joins ‘Hunger Games’ prequel in ‘cruel,’ ‘fearsome’ role

  • NFL World Reacts To The Carl Nassib Signing News

    NFL World Reacts To The Carl Nassib Signing News

  • Haunted, self-possessed or just spirited: 2022’s Emmy-nominated songs

    Haunted, self-possessed or just spirited: 2022’s Emmy-nominated songs

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd

Footer

Copyright © 2022 · Log in

×