LavenderRed_Cubabook

illustrated texts, and educational materials for the population. The National Assembly
of People’s Power then created a permanent commission. Within that commission they
created a working group, the National Institute of Sex Education. The structure is very
important. I don’t think that in any country in the world, including the socialist world,
does this kind of structure exist, except here.”
He added, “With this kind of task, to create a national plan, you can’t leave it in the
hands of one person or a group of people or to one organization; it has to be done
throughout the entire society.”
One of the first suggestions the Ministry of Education made was to begin elementary
sex education from the earliest years. But Cuba was still trying to build enough schools
and train enough teachers to meet the educational needs of the population. Álvarez said
his youngest child’s teachers at that time in secondary school in the countryside were just
two or three years older than their students.
“It was difficult for the Ministry of Education under these circumstances,” he stated,
“to assume responsibility for a national program in sex education.
“The first task was to prepare some texts on the subject, because there weren’t any.”
Ground-breaking first publication
Álvarez explained, “We decided to make a selection from the most highly developed
socialist country in this area, East Germany, and we selected the books that we thought
would best cover our needs.”
The first ground-breaking publication in Cuba was Sigfried Schnabl’s “The Intimate
Life of Males and Females” (El hombre y la mujer en la intimidad). The book had been
published first in the German Democratic Republic—the East German workers’ state—
in 1978.
Bjorklund wrote that Sigfried Schnabl’s book, which was “translated and edited in
Cuba in 1979, clearly states that ‘homosexuals should be granted equal rights, respect
and recognition, and that any kind of social discrimination is reprehensible.’ This book
served as guidance for the work of CNES and at pedagogical colleges.”
In their article in the Summer 1980 Gay Insurgent, Stephen J. Risch and Randolph E.
Wills noted, “In fact it was the Women’s Federation which saw the book as so important
that it successfully lobbied for its publication considerably ahead of schedule (since there
are limited resources for publishing books in Cuba, finished manuscripts must wait in
line to be published).”
Álvarez remembers that the subject was so popular: “We sold it in a special way to
try and guarantee that it would get into the hands of doctors, other health personnel
and teachers. We sold it at about 5 pesos, but in addition, the buyer had to have a paper
signed by me saying that he or she had the right to buy the book. Otherwise, the books
would have disappeared from the bookstores within two hours.”
42 Rainbow Solidarity in Defense of Cuba