• Submitted by: admin
• Society
• 05 / 17 / 2009

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President Raul Castro's daughter led hundreds of Cuban gays in a street dance done yesterday to draw attention to gay rights on the island.

Participants formed a carnival-style conga line around two city blocks accompanied by the beat of drums and by costumed stilt-walkers. The event also included educational panels, conferences  and presentations of books, magazines and CDs about gay rights and sexual diversity.

"We're calling on the Cuban people to participate ... so that the revolution can be deeper and include all the needs of the human being," said Mariela Castro, an outspoken gay rights advocate who directs Cuban Sex Education Center (CENESEX).

Attending the program's opening, Parliament speaker President Ricardo Alarcon said that Cuba has advanced in recent years in the area of gay rights.The tolerance to homosexuality on the island has grown in recent years.

Source: guardian.co.uk