Henry Scott, a former publisher of Out magazine, takes strong
exception to a Cuban excursion being organized by New York's Empire
State Pride Agenda (ESPA). Scott's piece is titled Cuba Libre?
Guess Again and runs in the current issue of Gay City News. He
describes an ESPA flyer announcing the trip, which reads: "We
thought it would be nice to get out of the city, especially now
that it's so cold. Somewhere exciting and warm, somewhere unusual
and exotic, not too far" We decided to go to Cuba!" Responds
Scott:
Perhaps [the] visitors from ESPA will turn up information about gay freedom in that nation that has eluded the diligent investigators of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Maybe they'll even be inspired to put down their Cohibas and Cuba Libres and risk a night in a squalid Havana prison by making a public stand for lesbian and gay civil liberties on the Malecon. But what's more likely is that the group's winter break on the beaches of this oppressed black and Latin nation will feed the perception that ESPA stands for "Empire State Party Agenda." "
On the other hand, maybe ESPA will see the myopia in believing its responsibility to promote lesbian and gay civil liberties ends at the borders of the Empire State. A public announcement that it is canceling the Cuba trip, with an explanation why, would go a long way to restoring the pride in the Empire State Pride Agenda.
For its part, ESPA claims it will be reaching out to Cuban gays during the trip. While that could be positive, it would be more effective if ESPA and other gay activist groups took a firmer stand against communism and the suffering it brings to all who must live under its totalitarian yoke.