Bigotry and overt repression of persons of the LGBT+ community has been the cutting edge of social progress during the past 50 years. Legislation repressing the LGBT+ community has increased both nationally and at the state level.
A brief summary of two socialist countries, and as compared with the United States, show that progress for the LGBT+ community is advancing. Reactionary, bigoted attacks against those of the LGBT+ persuasion seems to be in retreat in several societies.
Cuba
The LGBT+ movement in Cuba has made significant strides in recent years. In 2022, the country voted to legalize same-sex marriage through a national referendum, making it one of the most progressive Latin American countries in terms of family law. However, historical discrimination and homophobia still exist, and there is work to be done to achieve equal rights for all. Cuba stands as a beacon of hope in the region, enshrining the most progressive Family Code in the world in its own constitution and working tirelessly to fight reactionary sentiment towards LGBT+ people.
As many scholars suggest, the Cuban Government treats trans rights and sex reassignment surgeries as a health issue. Cuba operates under the idea that healthcare is a right to all, allowing trans people access to public health care.
In 1979, the Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MIN-SAP) established the Multidisciplinary Commission for Attention to Transsexuals to provide both specialized health care and social services. Mariela Castro Espín, the daughter of former President Raul Castro, and Vilma Espín, the President of the Federation of Cuban Women, describes it: “specialists in the care of transsexual persons, and … adopted internationally approved diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, which were incorporated as services offered free of charge by the [Cuban National Public Health System], along with courses to train sex therapists.”
Vietnam
The LGBT+ movement in Vietnam has gained momentum in recent years, with activists pushing for legal recognition and acceptance. The Viet Pride movement and the campaign to legalize same-sex marriage have made Vietnam a phenomenon in the global movement for LGBT+ rights.
The right to change gender was officially legalized in Vietnam after the National Assembly passed an amendment to the Civil Code in 2015.
Vietnam’s first annual gay pride parade took place in Hanoi on August 5th 2012. Since 2017, pride parades were held throughout the country.
On November 24, 2015, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam passed a landmark law by a parliamentary vote of 282–84, enshrining rights for transgender people in a move, advocacy groups say, paves the way for sex reassignment surgery.
On April 10, 2023, lawmakers put forward a proposal to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly to create a new Gender Affirmation Law, formerly known as Gender Identity Law. The law would show that Vietnam values protecting vulnerable communities and “leaving no one behind in its policies”. The proposed law would allow people the right to change gender identity, request a different gender identity to the one assigned at birth, the right to choose a medical intervention method for gender-reaffirming surgery, and strictly prohibit any form of discrimination and false information against transgender individuals, their families and relatives.
In August 2022, Vietnam conversion therapy became legally banned and it was declared that LGBT+ individuals “are not diseased” and should never be treated as such according to the Health Ministry.
USA
So where does this Leave the USA? Will it join progressive humankind in eliminating sexual bigotry, oppression, and the second-class citizenship status of LGBT+ people? From Cuba to Vietnam to Denmark to England to South Africa, a progressive wind is blowing throughout the globe.
However, the MAGA movement around Donald Trump and his right-wing backers has encouraged bigotry in the United States. Bigotry, like racism, is a social disease. Like most social diseases, bigotry flourishes in environments where economic stability is faltering and societal roles are being challenged. Forces on the right have historically used such periods to intensify social divisions and scapegoat minority groups in order to gain political power. Such forces were prominent in the recent US 2024 elections, and they have become so widespread that they have even infected groups on the political Left.
The Peoples LGBT+ United Society (PLUS) will join with other forces in confronting the bastions of reaction and backwardness that have been empowered by this reactionary political movement.
Retrieved from: Peoples LGBT+ United Society – Unity is Power: LGBT+ Solidarity in the Working Class!
