Ambiente magazine reports that The Cuban Commission on Human Rights for people with HIV and Sexual Races, the Cuban League against AIDS, Elena Mederos Foundation, The Foundation LGTB Reinaldo Arenas in Memoriam, Elena Mederos Foundation, the Cuban Movement for Gay Liberation, the Havana Transsexual Collective, Havana LGTB Cultural Center and the Organization of Gay Political Presidio Reinaldo Arenas were all expected to participate in the march.

The march was planned to begin in the "Don Quixote" park in the neighborhood of Vedado and then to go on to the Ministry of Justice "with the goal of delivering their demands to the Castro government," according to Ambiente.

Demands included the cessation of violence and repression against Cuban homosexuals, and an apology to the Cuban people for the introduction in the 60's of UMAP concentration camps (Military Units to Aid Production) that were created by the dictator Fidel Castro, to suppress and punish homosexuals and the religious youth who opposed his Marxist ideology.

The Catholic Church protested yesterday in an editorial in Palabra Nueva - the monthly magazine of the Archdiocese of Havana - that the Cuban government approved increased openness regarding to gay rights, saying "Respect for the homosexual person, yes. Promotion of homosexuality, no."

Last update: 01-29-2009 21:09