When Raul Castro replaced his brother Fidel as leader of Cuba last month, President Bush took a predictably cynical perspective. In a March 7th press conference he stated that,

“So far, all Cuba has done is replace one dictator with another. And its former ruler is still influencing events from behind the scenes. This is the same system, the same faces, and the same policies that led Cuba to its miseries in the first place.”

Well Mr. Bush, here’s a newsflash for you — if Mariela Castro, Raul’s daughter, has her way, Cuban transsexuals and gays will have more documented rights than any other Latin American country. Moreover, despite the overall human rights abusing nature of the regime, the bill will allow transsexuals and gays more equality and options than what is offered in the US.

According to the BBC, under the bill, same-sex unions and inheritance rights would be recognized. Transsexuals would have the right to free sex-change operations and switch the gender on their ID cards, with or without surgery.

Let’s compare this proposal to current US policies shall we?

– Twenty-six states within the US have laws explicitly refusing to recognize any same-sex union.

– Free sex-change operations… in THIS country… keep dreaming!

– In 2006, New York City unveiled a plan which would allow transsexuals to switch the gender on their birth certificates without undergoing surgery, providing they can show documented hormone replacement therapy or something to the like. Most states do allow a transsexual to alter his or her birth certificate to reflect a sex-change surgery.

Should this bill pass, it will be a historic step for Cuba– a country known for its homophobia.

Mariela Castro states,

“In the early years of the revolution much of the world was homophobic. It was the same here in Cuba and led to acts which I consider unjust […] What I see now is that both Cuban society and the government have realized that these were mistakes. There is also the desire to take initiatives which would prevent such things happening again.”

For more information– check out the Queerty blog’s article and Dr. Becky’s resource site on birth certificate modification.