Race, Class and Gender
Dignity: A Chant to The Social Conscience
Pedro Tamayo Zayas Antilla, Holguín, Cuba
For humankind— including we, the Cubans— dignity is enjoyable as right to be duly valued and protected from all forms of violence, physical or mental, and all forms of discrimination. The inalienable human rights are often ignored, such as freedom of expression, freedom of gender identity and sexual orientation, and others that are part of an ethics code to respect human dignity. If our way of seeing life is really based on respect for others and we want to grow up with a high sense of it, no one can demand respect without knowing how to respect others. It’ s troubling the occurrence of such degrading facts like harassment, abuse and discrimination because of skin color, sexual orientation or another reason. These facts cannot simply be brushed aside without denouncing them. I recently witnessed how a group of young high school students— and some cadets and recruits— made use of their bad education, built by the revolutionary educational project, for uttering obscene words and sexual offenses against a gay nurse couple who, like them, waited for the P-7 bus ride in the Fraternity Park. The couple was scheduled to serve in a hospital at El Cerro. They were not only verbally, but also physically assaulted by students, cadets and recruits who prevented them from boarding the bus. The law enforcement agents on the spot did not act in defense of the victimized couple.
Some believe that, in addition to the lack of a public campaign against all forms of discrimination, it is necessary to draw the attention of the authorities towards the growing deterioration of social behavior, indiscipline and public disorder for all to see. The ordinary citizens consider that the actions taken for ensuring discipline and order are not enough. The challenge is to implement an educational process that goes beyond the state media propaganda on the Cubans as faithful exponents and defenders of human rights, with dignity as an appreciable and respectable input. Generally, those who act very violently, who abuse or offend LGBTI people, have a common starting point: the inherited patriarchal and macho culture, but other ideological factors also operate within the mentality the new man ´ s creation. It has not in mind that the world is evolving and nobody can be blind to the changes driven by a diverse and global world aimed to eradicate homophobia. Many of these inquisitive judges suffer from a homophobic sense and a proclivity to embrace alleged fundamentalist truths, filled with ignorance, for branding, pigeonholing and discriminating LGBTI community members. It goes to the extreme of excluding them from certain social benefits. Sexual emotion and enjoyment are part of the human repertoire and cannot be classified as politically correct or
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