Cubans mark International Day Against Homophobia

Multiple deadlines largely kept me away from the blog over the past week, but one thing I would like to highlight are the Cubans who took to the streets of Havana and other cities to mark the annual International Day Against Homophobia.

Mariela Castro, director of Centro Nacional de Educación Sexual de Cuba (CENESEX) and daughter of Cuban President Raúl Castro marched with hundreds of others through the capital on Saturday, May 15. She spoke about IDAHO with the Associated Press.

"We have made progress, but we need to make more progress," said Castro.

Gay Cuban blogger Pedro Luis Castro has posted several pictures of his countrymen commemorating IDAHO on his blog Fotos desde Cuba.



Transgender woman in Santa Clara.



Gay Cubans in Havana.



Gay Cubans in Havana.

Oil reportedly enters powerful Gulf current

The tar balls that washed up onto one of Key West's beaches earlier this week did not come from the Deepwater Horizon, but reports the oil from the massive spill has entered the Loop Current are certainly troubling.



From the Key West Citizen.

Boy in Bushwick posted pictures on Monday of the Dry Tortugas and other areas that the oil could potentially affect. A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said yesterday American officials have had "working level discussions with the Cuban government to keep them informed" about the oil's location in the Gulf of Mexico. The crude that has reportedly entered the current could potentially reach the Florida Keys and Cuba's northern coast in about a week.

Let's hope this catastrophe does not expand any further.

Oil spill could reach the Florida Keys

A Miami Herald headline earlier today spoke for itself: Concerns grow that Gulf oil spill could reach Florida Keys.

Reports continue to indicate some of the millions of gallons of oil that have leaked into the Gulf of Mexico since the Deepwater Horizon rig caught fire and sunk on April 20 have entered the loop current. The Miami Herald reported the oil could potentially reach the Dry Tortugas, the Marquesas Keys and Cuba's northern coast.

The [Key West] Citizen has a link on its Web site that updates readers on the status of the spill, but the mere thought some of the oil could potentially impact the Florida Keys -- and it's particularly fragile ecosystems -- is certainly frightening. Here are some pictures of the Dry Tortugas and the area around the Marquesas Keys I took during an Oct. 2008 trip.



Looking west from Key West en route to the Dry Tortugas National Park.



Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas.



Approaching Fort Jefferson on Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas.



Fort Jefferson.

Cuban journalist on hunger strike reportedly unconscious in hospital

A Cuban journalist who has been on a hunger strike for more than two weeks is reportedly unconscious in a hospital.

Blogger Yoaní Sánchez tweeted earlier this afternoon Guillermo “Coco” Fariñas is in Hospital Universitario Arnaldo Milian Castro in the provincial city of Santa Clara. Convivencia tweeted Fariñas is suffering from hypovolemic and hypoglycemic shock.

Fariñas began his hunger strike 16 days ago to protest dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo’s death. The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly earlier today to condemn Cuba for Zapata’s “cruel and avoidable” death in prison on Feb. 23. Fariñas himself told the British Broadcasting Corporation he is “ready to die.”

The Miami Herald reported earlier this month Fariñas has gone on hunger strike more than 20 times since 1995.

Cuban dissident dies while on hunger strike

A prominent Cuban dissident who had been on a hunger strike since early December has died.

Yoani Sánchez and other Cuban bloggers reported Orlando Zapata Tamayo passed away earlier today. Zapata's mother, Reina Luisa Tamayo, confirmed her son's death in a brief telephone interview with el Nuevo Herald in Miami and on a YouTube video on Sánchez's blog.



Authorities arrested Zapata, 42, along with more than 70 other dissidents in a 2003 crackdown. And Zapata began his hunger strike on Dec. 3, 2009, to protest what he described as beatings and other human rights abuses in the eastern Cuba prison in which he served a 36-year sentence.

"Orlando Zapata Tamayo has died on the eve of Raúl Castro's second anniversary in power," Sánchez tweeted earlier tonight. "We call for national mourning!"

Comisión de Derechos Humanos y Reconciliación Nacional (or the Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation) reported authorities detained at least 23 people in Camaguey on Feb. 3 while they participated in a demonstration that called for Zapata's release. Amnesty International further reported CCDHRN said the authorities beat the demonstrators after they took them into custody.

"Orlando Zapata Tamayo's life has been added to a very long and painful list of names of valiant men and women who have given their entire lives for a free Cuba,"
a posting to Vocescubanas.com read.

This list unfortunately grew even longer with Zapata's tragic death.

Estoy en solidaridad con los cubanos que siguen hablando su verdad desde su patria. I stand in solidarity with those Cubans who continue to speak their truth from within their homeland.

From a New Hampshire state of marriage to blogging in Cuban

I am wrapping-up a busy hump day with last minute e-mails (and of course this blog entry) before I head to bed, but a couple of things continue to resonate in my mind at this relatively late hour.

The New Hampshire House voted 210-109 earlier today to defeat a bill that would have repealed the state's law that has allowed gays and lesbians to marry since Jan. 1.

"How has my marriage impacted upon your marriage or how has it diminished the value of your marriage?" openly gay state Rep. Robert Thompson [D-Manchester,] who married his partner Michael Jacobsen in the Queen City on Jan. 2, asked his colleagues.

Paul and I had the distinct honor of attending Robert and Michael's wedding, but I once again echo the talking point I have shared with several people who have followed this issue in New Hampshire in recent weeks. The majority of Granite Staters are far more concerned about the state's apparent and continued failure to plow the highways than who can get married; Just a hunch from someone who was born and raised in New Hampshire...

On a completely separate note, I began to work on a story for the Guide that will highlight the gay bloggers outside the United States. You are probably familiar with my attempts to highlight the growing Cuban blogosphere over the last several months, but I was finally able to reach Pedro Luis Castro of Fotos desde Cuba on his cell phone earlier tonight. We only spoke for a couple of minutes, but he did say it was cold in Havana--it is partly cloudy and 64 degrees in the Cuban capital as I write this blog. Even though the island is less than 100 miles south of Key West, Cuba is a place that remains intangible to the vast majority of Americans, but it is an island I hope to discover some day soon.

Solidarity with the Cuban blogosphere

A vacation in Havana is certainly an enticing proposition for this winter-weary New Yorker, but it is important to remember the vast majority of Cubans continue to
endure unnecessary hardships in their own country.

Boy in Bushwick highlighted the growing Cuban blogosphere last month, but Yoani Sánchez and her colleagues are able to provide an uncensored picture of daily life in the country on a literal shoestring. Pedro Luis, a blogger who maintains Fotos desde Cuba and La Habana llora, updates them at hotels and Internet cafes throughout Havana. It costs roughly $6 an hour to access the Internet in these locations, but Pedro Luis pointed to a number of things that would make his work easier. These include blank CDs, flash drives, SIM cards and even a camera.

His contact information is below for anyone who may want to connect with him.

5352731727 (can receive text messages or MSM)
internetencuba@gmail.com

My conversations with Pedro Luis over the last few months have truly reminded me of the important role journalists, bloggers and other media professionals play in a given society. He and his colleagues provide a vitally important glimpse into the daily struggles of the Cuban people. And it remains crucial to stand up in solidarity with them.

Cuban blogosphere emerges

Even though the bulk of my recent work has focused on the push to secure marriage for same-sex couples, hate crimes and other LGBT-specific issues, international affairs, multiculturalism, socio-economics and other topics are among those in which I remain acutely interested.

On this thread, I was quite frankly shocked to receive an instant message from a blogger in Havana a few weeks ago after I e-mailed him about his blog Fotos desde Cuba. I have never experienced the struggles many Cubans face every day on the island, but Pedro's pictures certainly provide a glimpse into a country and a society of which a majority of Americans remain unaware.



Signs of the Cuban Revolution in Havana.



A protest in Vedado on Nov. 20.



An advertisement for a transgender festival in Havana late last month.



Two men sit along Havana's oceanfront.

Yoani Sánchez is perhaps Cuba's most recognized blogger. President Barack Obama answered seven questions she sent to him and Cuban President Raúl Castro last month. Castro has yet to respond to Sánchez's questions, but she blogged on Generación Y three Cuban security agents in street clothes detained and beat her last month as she was on her way to attend a march.

Sánchez's blog links to other bloggers around the country.

Fidel Castro Announces Resignation

This blogger was almost certainly among millions of people in this country and around the world who attentively listened to reports yesterday that analyzed the potential impact Cuban President Fidel Castro's resignation would have on the Communist island. Few seem to question the dire economical situation of the Cuban people and the geo-political struggle between the United States and the Castro regime since shortly after he took power in 1959. The question of how his resignation will impact LGBT Cubans is part of the broader questions that remain.

The country's culture minister, Abel Prieto, recently expressed his support for legal recognition of same-sex couples while Castro's niece, Centro Nacional de Educacion Sexual (CENESEX) director Mariela Castro Espin, has expressed support for LGBT rights, including government-funded sex-reassignment surgeries and hormones, for transgender Cubans, over the last three years. These are important steps to correct serious human rights abuses the Castro regime had committed against gay men, people with AIDS and others, but the question remains as to whether a change in the Cuban government will produce tangible reforms that are more than arguably long overdue. Time will tell.