Award-Winning Cuban Blogger
Posted: September 13, 2010 02:09 PM
Gay In Cuba
2010-09-13-mariposa.jpgMy friend Miguel left, tired of waiting for a sex
change operation, and knowing full well that he was never going to get a
better job. He left the red wig to a friend who worked in the same
hospital and sold, illegally, the room he had in Luyano The day he asked
permission to leave he put on a suit and tie, which made him roar when
he looked at himself in the mirror. At the immigration office he tried
to keep his hands off the fold of his trousers, so that the last gasp of
homophobia wouldn't spoil his departure.
He escaped before they closed the river of Cubans which, for a brief
time, flowed to Ecuador. His was one of some 700 marriages contracted
between citizens of both countries, many of them with the sole objective
of obtaining residency in that South American nation. Miguel paid the
equivalent of $6,000 and in return got a wedding in Havana with a woman
from Quito he'd known for barely a couple of hours. He faked pictures of
the honeymoon, paid an official at the Ministry of Public Health so he
would give him his "release"and even handed over a little cash so that
his white card -- the exit permit -- wouldn't be too delayed. He
pretended to be what he was not which was easy for him, because those of
us born on this Island are good at putting on a mask.
Now he expects difficult times because the Ecuadorian police have
started to investigate the 37,000 Cubans who entered that country in
recent years. He doesn't seem scared, however. He is gay, one of those
they loaded into police trucks under a rain of blows, and for years he
was also monitored for his critical views. After experiencing both edges
of the blade of censorship, nothing frightens him. When called to
testify -- if he is called -- he will go wearing the red dress he always
wanted to wear here. Nobody is going to stop him from gesturing while
they interrogate him, because already Miguel has escaped that Miguel he
once was, to become -- happily -- Olivia.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yoani-sanchez/gay-in-cuba_b_714907.html
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