News :: GLBT
Cuba pays for sex reassignment surgery by Hannah Clay Wareham
Associate EditorWednesday Mar 10, 2010 Since 2008, Cuba has begun footing the bill for the country’s transgender men and women to undergo gender reassignment surgery.
Mariela Castro, the daughter of President Raul Castro and niece of former leader Fidel, confirmed to reporters on March 9 that the country has been paying for the operations for the past two years.
"These processes of negotiation are sometimes done very quietly, so as not to stir up ghosts," she told the Associated Press. Castro is the head of the country’s National Centre for Sexual Education and is Cuba’s leading LGBT rights advocate.
An estimated eight transgender people have undergone the government-funded surgery. 22 more are said to be on a waiting list.
The country’s first gender reassignment procedure, performed in 1988, spurred such a public outcry that the practice was banned until 2007. The legislation that legalized gender reassignment surgery three years ago was not publicized, Castro said, so as not to cause controversy. She was one of the Cuban advocates who led push to lift the ban.
During his tenure as the country’s leader, Fidel Castro viewed homosexuality and sexual diversity as a corrupt consequence of capitalism.
Hannah can be reached at hclaywareham@baywindows.com.
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