{"id":228102,"date":"2020-09-26T08:46:45","date_gmt":"2020-09-26T12:46:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=228102"},"modified":"2020-09-26T08:46:45","modified_gmt":"2020-09-26T12:46:45","slug":"the-cuban-port-of-con-mis-hijos-no-te-metas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/columns\/no-filter\/the-cuban-port-of-con-mis-hijos-no-te-metas\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cuban port of \u201cCon mis hijos no te metas\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cuba modified its Constitution in early 2019. In December of that same year, the National Assembly of People\u2019s Power announced the schedule of laws or decrees that, as a consequence of the change in the Magna Carta or as a prior need, would be modified or created in the next two legislatures: 2020-2028. So far, they will be 107. A process of this type is not usual. Rather, it is exceptional.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the constituent change, various <\/span>issues were debated<\/span><\/a>. The scope of the <\/span>public health<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>education<\/span><\/a> systems, forms of <\/span>ownership<\/span><\/a>, the relationship between <\/span>State and Party<\/span><\/a>, the <\/span>rights of association<\/span><\/a> and much more <\/span>were discussed<\/span><\/a>. However, <\/span>the bone of contention<\/span><\/a> was the article that proposed to open the door to the recognition of same-sex marriage. This revealed the existence and the pulse of a hitherto marginal political actor: religious neo-conservatism, even fundamentalist. This sector managed to mobilize a citizenry with a religious base and temporarily twist the path of recognition of rights for diverse individuals and families. The confrontation in this regard was postponed up to now, already near\u00a0 (2021), when the <\/span>new Family Code<\/span><\/a> is discussed and approved.<\/span><\/p>\n

The above is a fact. But it\u2019s not all. Same-sex marriage is not the only content on the <\/span>neoconservative agenda<\/span><\/a>. There is more and it has already been sneaking them into the citizen conversation: they campaign against the <\/span>voluntary interruption of pregnancies<\/span><\/a>, sex education, adoption by same-sex couples and assisted reproduction for them, among other issues.<\/span><\/p>\n

The program is clearly defined and it is essential to appreciate it in its entirety. A few days ago, for example, they <\/span>attacked<\/span><\/a> on social networks communication products published by the National Center for Sex Education. The arguments used were diverse, but consistent, and raised a novelty: they reaffirmed in unison the motto \u201cCon mis hijos no te metas\u201d in the country and, with this, they are joining the organizational referent of the regional movement with the same name. Thus they give continuity and greater organicity to one of the focuses of neo-conservatism: moral education for boys, girls and adolescents as the patrimony of the traditional family.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCon mis hijos no te metas\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

The so-called anti-gender campaigns, which attack sex education and gender equality content, did not begin with \u201cCon mis hijos\u2026.\u201d The anti-rights action of a religious matrix is \u200b\u200blong-term and has different priorities for each national case, but in the last decades this <\/span>program<\/span><\/a> has been orchestrated outside of religious grounds, to intervene with much more force and through more actors in political life.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Source: Cuba por mi familia, January 16, 2019.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995) raised an important schism. The advancement of rights based on gender led to reactions of high intensity in the most conservative sector of the Catholic Church. The spectrum of actors has been broadening and today evangelisms play a leading role; the anti-rights strategy is much more ecumenical than it was in the 1990s.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2007 in Croatia and in 2008 in Austria there are records of campaigns against sex education content (Croatia), and against same-sex marriages (Austria). Later, in France, Spain, Poland and, in a cascade, in all the countries of Latin America.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCon mis hijos no te metas\u201d is the name and slogan of civil society organizations that began operating in the region since 2016. Its first institutional port was Peru. They also landed in Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, <\/span>Mexico<\/span><\/a>, Uruguay and the rest of the countries. \u201cCon mis hijos…\u201d is not a homogeneous block. It is a space for the articulation of diverse religious and conservative groups and motives. It is necessary to discern and analyze this diversity in order to measure its strength and its folds.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of its references is the <\/span>Manhattan Declaration<\/span><\/a> (2009), a document that confirmed an alliance between Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox leaders, through which they expressed their rejection of the inclusion of abortion in the health reform of then president of the United States Barack Obama.<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cCon mis hijos…\u201d program is extensive. They have succeeded in curbing laws, lower standards and policies on sex education in all countries. They are activated on social networks and powerfully mobilize groups that agree with their agenda, not necessarily religious, but conservative throughout the line.<\/span><\/p>\n

In <\/span>Peru<\/span><\/a>, \u201cCon mis hijos…\u201d arises from the signing of the Lima Declaration, where alliances were forged between pastors of different evangelical churches to fight against the implementation of a new National Curriculum of Basic Education of the Ministry of Education. Those who organized the campaign argued that with this study program the \u201cgender ideology\u201d was introduced in the schools, which they describe as false and dangerous. In the founding speech of \u201cCon mis hijos…\u201d in Peru, the pastor in charge, Christian Rosas, defined \u201cgender ideology\u201d as a unique thought that aims to influence minors so that they believe that they can choose their sexuality, when it is already defined by biology. This general mold is very diverse when it is analyzed for the different contexts: in the \u201cgender ideology\u201d bag there are very diverse contents that are strategically brought up. \u201cGender ideology\u201d <\/span>is not a concept<\/span><\/a>; it is a strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Peruvian school curriculum in question had a section on gender equality and <\/span>stated<\/span><\/a> that there must be an \u201cequal assessment of the different behaviors, aspirations and needs of women and men,\u201d and that \u201calthough what we consider \u2018feminine\u2019 or \u2018masculine\u2019 is based on a biological-sexual difference, these are notions that we build day by day, in our interactions.\u201d That was the affront.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Peru and other countries in the region, religious neo-conservatives have associated this \u201cgender ideology\u201d with what they call \u201ccultural Marxism.\u201d The interested association had a strong weight and determining in several ways during the process of discussion of the <\/span>referendum for peace<\/span><\/a> in <\/span>Colombia<\/span><\/a>. This was linked to the onslaught against adoption by same-sex couples and sex education promoted through the Ministry of Public Health booklets.<\/span><\/p>\n

In <\/span>Argentina<\/span><\/a> they organize marches and <\/span>lobby politically<\/span><\/i><\/a> since 2018, also to reject \u201cgender ideology\u201d in schools and the National Program for Comprehensive Sex Education in that country.<\/span><\/p>\n

In <\/span>Ecuador<\/span><\/a>, \u201cCon mis hijos…\u201d mobilized in 2017 against the approval of the Organic Health Code and the Organic Law for the Eradication of Gender Violence. They have continued to work and expand.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Chile there was a <\/span>new peak in the dispute<\/span><\/a> this year, in June, regarding the Draft Law on Guarantees for Children. The movement\u2019s spokeswoman, Ingrid Bohn, <\/span>spoke<\/span><\/a> about the legal text that, in her opinion, \u201crelegates the leading role and the preferential right of parents to be the persons who can educate children in matters of values.\u201d That opinion refers to the fact that the draft law in question included as one of its contents the progressive autonomy of boys and girls and referred to the gender perspective and the right to comprehensive sex education.<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout the region, these actors form alliances and come together in platforms with a broad audience. The most important space for these connections is the <\/span>Iberian-American Congress for Life and Family<\/span><\/a>, an organization created by Mexican pastor and journalist Aar\u00f3n Lara in 2017. The platform brings together politicians and Christian activists who build a common narrative and replicate strategies to prevent abortion, euthanasia and the recognition of the rights of the LGTBIQ+ population.<\/span><\/p>\n

The campaign \u201cCon mis hijos…\u201d has also opened the doors for Protestant sectors and other neo-conservatives to enter the political arena. They are measuring themselves in areas of rights that don\u2019t necessarily have to do with their sexual moral agenda. In <\/span>Paraguay<\/span><\/a>, for example, they have already attacked the Gender Parity Law in political bodies. In Brazil they were decisive in the elections that brought Bolsonaro to power, and the same in Colombia, as mentioned before, regarding the peace process.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCon mis hijos…\u201d and the Cuban port<\/b><\/p>\n

Same-sex marriage is not the only target of Cuban religious neo-conservatisms, nor is the Family Code its only objective. Apparently, \u201cCon mis hijos…\u201d is already in Cuba.<\/span><\/p>\n

The aforementioned publication<\/span><\/a> of the National Center for Sex Education, on its Facebook page, on September 8 spoke of the rights of boys, girls and adolescents regarding their body and their sexuality.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Fourteen days later, it had 441 comments, most of them furiously disagreeing. Here\u2019s a sample button:<\/span><\/p>\n