November 26, 2011
HAVANA (AFP) - A Cuban university employee charged in an open letter Friday that he lost his job for holding parties for gay people in his free time.
Navid Fernandez Cabrera says he had to resign at the Information Sciences University in Havana amid homophobic backlash related to his organizing parties for the gay community in a restaurant in colonial-era Old Havana.
Fernandez' letter was published on a local blog; Cuba's one party communist regime controls all official local media outlets.
He urged university authorities to investigate what he says was his exposure to harassment by emails, and take the action they decide is necessary.
Sex educator Mariela Castro, a daughter of President Raul Castro, has led a campaign against homophobia in Cuba.
The Communist Party has included homophobia on its agenda for a January 28 national meeting. Gays and lesbians faced widespread discrimination for decades under the communist government.
Same-sex marriage is illegal in Cuba, but Mariela Castro's official educational organization, Cenesex, is lobbying for its legalization.
