| Fighting sexual discrimination and exclusion |
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| Escrito por Sara Más | |||||||||
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Mariela Castro, director of the National Sex Education Center (CENESEX), urged to fight discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or identity considerations. She officially announced that several sex-change operations have been performed in Cuba in the last 12 months. "If we want to be consistent with our national development strategies, which gives top priority to social programs and human rights, we should not exclude anyone," she indicated at the 5th Cuban Congress on Sex Education, Orientation and Therapy, which was held on January 18-22 in Havana. "CENESEX will ask the Communist Party to address these issues and devise ways of eliminating sexual discrimination," she announced. "Sexual orientation has really nothing to do with political and/or ideological affiliation," she noted. "There are always majority and minority groups in every society, and none of them should be excluded on the basis of sexual, racial, ethnic or gender-related prejudices," she added. "The latest sex-reassignment operations have been carried out by Cuban and Belgian surgeons, under Resolution No. 126 of the Ministry of Public Health," she told media representatives at the Congress. "The National Commission for Transsexuals has seen 122 cases and identified 30 as such. Less than half of them have been operated on," she noted. "Hormone treatment has been available, however, since 1979, she recalled. "Homophobia is deeply rooted in our culture and poses a number of obstacles, including misinformation and prejudices," she remarked. "We are seeking to have homosexual marriage recognized by law," she said. "Statistical data do not give much food for thought in this connection," she added. Delivering a master lecture at the event, she indicated that new actions should be implemented to fight certain attitudes and behaviors, strengthen the legislation in force, and develop long-lasting educational and media strategies. "We have moved from gender-equality and reproductive-health goals in the 1960s and 1970s to sexual education under State policies and a gender approach to academic studies," she emphasized. "State-run institutions are today working in close coordination with civil-society organizations, including lesbians, gays, men having sex with men, people living with HIV/AIDS, and health promoters. They are all helping implement the National Sex Education Program," she concluded.
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