Politics and Civil Society in Cuba

Revolutionary and Lesbian: Negotiating Sexual Citizenship in Cuba 387

Ability to Participate in Political Life as a Member of the

Communist Party

According to the Cuban constitution, the Cuban Communist Party,

“as the organized vanguard of the Cuban nation, is the ultimate guid-

ing force of society and the state” (Cuban Constitution 1992: art. 5).

Following the ideas of José Martí and Marxism-Leninism, the Com-

munist Party “organizes and guides the common effort toward the

goals of the construction of socialism and the progress toward a com-

munist society” (Cuban Constitution 1992: art. 5). Membership in the

Cuban Communist Party is the ultimate marker of full citizenship and

recognition as a “good citizen” or “good revolutionary.” In a country

of 11 million, only 820,000 Cubans are members of the Cuban Com-

munist Party, and another 600,000 young people are members of the

Union of Young Communists (Frank, 2008). Far from being forced to

join, one must be invited to join the party after having been recog-

nized by neighbors, teachers, classmates or colleagues who are already

members of the party to be an outstanding member of society.

815 Can you be a member of the Party and homosexual?

816 No.

817 No, this hasn’t changed,

818 I imagine that there are quite a few soldiers who are

819 and who suffer a lot

820 because if someone suspects that you are

821 they expel you from the ranks.

Rights of Citizenship: Priority Given to Mothers

The next episode is the only one in which the speaker focuses on dis-

crimination she experienced in which her rights, the state’s obligation

to her as a Cuban citizen and mother of a newborn baby, were denied

because she was perceived as lesbian (because of her partner’s gender

presentation). The rights she claims here are not rights specific to

LGBT people, rather she demands the recognition of her claim to

state protection due to her status as a lactating mother.