A Sex Change of Pace in Cuba

It used to be that a sex change operation in Cuba was as likely to happen as Fidel shaving his beard, but thanks to one member of the Castro family, the change has come.

State funded sexual reassignment surgeries are quietly underway in the Communist nation, under the direction of Mariela Castro, niece of Fidel and daughter of Raul.

It was reported last May that Mariela, who serves as director of the National Sex Education Center, was set to rehash the program that was begun in 1988 and halted for nearly two decades.

It appears that the government has wasted little time, performing at least a few in the past couple years. The surgeries have been done in near secrecy to avoid attention, but patients are beginning to speak out.

One of those who has received the surgery is Yiliam Gonzalez, formerly William. "I would see myself, and my body didn't match who I was," said Gonzalez, 28.

Gonzalez may be a symbol for a change in philosophy for the notoriously anti-gay nation.

For Mariela Castro, described as a sexologist and gay-rights advocate, allowing and paying for the sex changes is a step in the right direction, but there's still a long road ahead.

"There has been a lot of resistance because homophobia remains strong in our culture," she said at a recent conference on sexuality.

Fidel himself has said gays have a place in Cuba.

"I'd like to think that discrimination against homosexuals is a problem that is being overcome," he said during a series of interviews between 2003 and 2005. "Old prejudices and narrow-mindedness will increasingly be things of the past."

The main argument against the surgeries is that the cash-strapped island can ill afford so-called "unnecessary expenses."

But Gonzalez said detractors have no idea how hard it is to live in the wrong body. 

"[They] don't know what a person who is transsexual suffers. It's a prison you can't get out of," she said

Cuba won't say how much the sex changes cost, but a male-to-female change can cost $10,000 to $25,000 in the U.S.

Copyright Associated Press / NBC 6 Miami

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