Homosexuals in Cuba: Some Do the Harm, Others Bear the Blame

Nonardo Perea

HAVANA TIMES— It was the fifth time I’d gone to the dentist’s that month. I’d gone that afternoon because I had an appointment, but the person who’d made this appointment for me hadn’t gone to work that day, so I had to go back another day.

Just when I decided to wait and have another different see me, a homosexual man wearing a rather flamboyant combination (tight-fitting shorts and a lacy blouse) showed up and, in a matter of seconds, caught everyone’s attention. They all laughed at his appearance.

Apparently, he had gone to see the person responsible for HIV cases and that person was not at their place of work. That sufficed to set the young man off and for him to throw a fit that made me feel uncomfortable. I am against attitudes that somehow denigrate the image of homosexuals. Unfortunately, when society has an experience of this nature, it assumes that all homosexuals are the same.

I didn’t feel it was necessary to assume that attitude in front of people, who merely looked at each other and winced, as though to say “these people are the worst!”

The gay man ended that small scene loudly saying he had gone to the clinic to get condoms to be able to f*ck – he said the word loud and clear before going down a flight of stairs and going out of the premises.

I decided to get up from the bench I was sitting on and head over to the records department, where they make the appointments. I walked up to the door. The people there were tearing the homosexual apart. A woman even said to the person who jots down appointments not to get too worked up over the gay man, that he had AIDS and that was punishment enough for him.

Standing next to the door, I asked the appointments woman when I could return to see the specialist who had seen me the previous time. Noting I was a homosexual, she gave me a hate-filled look. When she spoke, I could sense her anger was aimed at me.

I took one hand to my chest and, without raising my voice, asked her if I’d done anything wrong. She said no and, little by little, I noticed that her look and tone of voice softened. She was trying to get the other gay out of her mind.

But I know that, deep down, we’re all the same to her.