Fidel Castro regrets discrimination against gays in Cuba

Castro did not blame the ruling Communist Party for the discrimination, instead regretting that he himself did not pay enough attention to the plight of gays during an era of sabotage, armed attacks and assassination plots against him.

“Avoiding the CIA, which bought so many traitors, was not easy, but if anyone has to take responsibility, I take mine. I will not hold anyone else responsible,” Castro said.

Like other Cubans, including some priests, considered “ideological deviants,” homosexuals in the 1960s were sent to labour camps for re-education and rehabilitation. Discrimination continued in the 1970s, with gays, in particular gay artists and writers, disgraced, marginalised, or in some cases driven into exile.

“Yes, there were moments of great injustice – great injustice,” Castro said.

“I am trying to narrow my responsibility in all of this, because of course personally I have no such prejudice” against homosexuals, he said.

The situation has improved greatly for gays and lesbians in Cuba, where Castro’s niece Mariela – the daughter of President Raul Castro – heads the National Sex Education Centre and has been campaigning for years for greater rights for gays and transsexuals.

Sex reassignment surgery is administered in Cuba, but same-sex marriage is not legal, and Mariela Castro said in January that there was still also reticence towards homosexuality in the Communist Party.