Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
Havana, May 9 – With a powerful message of inclusion and opposition to any type of discrimination, a cultural gala was held in the Covarrubias Hall of the National Theater in honor of the International Day to Fight against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia on May 17.
Authorities from the Ministries of Education and Culture, as well as Mariela Castro Espín, director of the National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX, for its acronym in Spanish), and activists and representatives of the LGBTIQ+ community, among other guests, attended the place.
The evening was enlivened by singing, dance and other artistic manifestations, with multiple invitations to continue taking safe steps on the path to the inclusion of all people.
The occasion was also conducive to the delivery of special recognitions to outstanding personalities and networks in social activism for making visible the realities of the members of the community and raising awareness in society in general in defense of their rights.
For Isel Calzadilla Acosta, coordinator of Isabelas, the first lesbian women's group to emerge in Cuba in 2000, the Cuban anti-homophobia days have been vitally important in educating the population, so that its existence is known, from the diversity and that has been recognized thanks to the Revolution, the work of CENESEX, and the laws that have been enacted as a result of the new Constitution and the Family Code that provide greater support.
She considered that inclusion and the fight against discrimination is everyone's task, not only activism, but that it has to integrate the State, the Government, the institutions and the media and in Cuba there is this will to continue breaking down barriers and stigmas.
There is still a need to create spaces to make visible from another perspective all the problems we face, the achievements and the pains that have existed for centuries of prejudice, and that through these, we are invited as a society to reflect on these issues with respect and empathy, she concluded.
The International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia occurs every May 17th to, among other things, commemorate the removal of homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses by the World Health Organization (WHO), which occurred on May 17, 1990, during the 43rd World Health Assembly held in Geneva. (ACN) (Photo: Taken from the Internet)
