Havana Boys

Cuban state television is wrapping up its popular telenovela The Hidden Side of the Moon, the first to feature a sympathetic gay character. That seems like progress for a country that used to lock up the limp-wristed and send them off to the countryside for some manly hard labor. On the other hand, the character ends up contracting AIDS and, judging from a video clip, sending his wife into some kind of self-flagellating seizure. Today's Miami Herald has a good article on the show and metrics of tolerance in Havana. The gist:

"When I was 18, people on the street used to shout, 'Hey, faggot!' '' said Oliver, 28, whose last name, like others in this report, is being withheld for fear of reprisals. "That doesn't happen anymore, unless you are a totally brazen transvestite hustling in really short shorts.''