The most famous anti-PaCS protest, and the most violent, remains the one that took place on January 31, 1999, launched by Boutin herself and involving the members of pro-family and religious organizations as well as a good number from France’s far right. It was for this demonstration that the CMCP, in an effort to promote its new youthful image, transformed itself into Générations anti-PaCS, which was imprinted on thousands of stickers with the slogan, “For Social Cohesion.” The demonstration was expected to rival one that had taken place in support of private schooling, which had united nearly 1 million people in the streets of Paris. In all, organizers expected 400 buses from ninety-one regions of France. Fearing that the police would downplay the number of demonstrators, for the first time, organizers used an electronic system in order to count protesters.
Meanwhile, gays and lesbians were mobilizing in anticipation of the march. On the morning of January 31, activist members of ACT UP-Paris arrived at the home of Boutin armed with fog horns and shouting, “Boutin, wake up! The queers are below!” Earlier, a group of gay activists took advantage of the early morning light to tear up anti-PaCS placards, or plaster them with home-made stickers that read “Hetero-terrorist” and “You’re ridiculous in your t-shirts.” The first groups of anti-PaCS demonstrators arrived around nine a.m., transforming the 7th arrondissement into a sea of uniformed youths dressed in long, dark blue capes; revealing glimpses of shaved heads beneath their caps, there was little doubt that the far right’s muscle had been requisitioned. The march got underway at three p.m. to the strains of “Here Comes the Bride” and “I Will Survive.” Marchers were applauded as they passed by, while a group of well-dressed men with brush-cuts and berets sang, to the beat of a drum, the catchphrase “PaCS won’t go through!” to the tune of a well-known French monarchist song. The blatant homophobia apparent in the marchers, not to mention their racism and sexism, shocked those not opposed to PaCS who had the courage to approach the procession. Among the slogans on the 18,000 placards brandished by protesters: “Love doesn’t work with PaCS,” “The homosexuals of today are the
pedophiles
of tomorrow!” and “Burn the queers!”
Although they had been discreet in the past, right-wing politicians proudly marched alongside the demonstrators, banners aflutter. Members of the National Front demonstrated while surrounded by fundamentalist flags with fleurs de lys and eighteenth-century counter-revolutionary symbols, their arms linked as they marched.
The “Perverse” Effect of Homophobic Violence
The large anti-PaCS demonstrations did not have the hoped-for effect, however; in fact, it was quite the opposite. The day following the January 31 protest, observers noted the relatively low turnout: 98,271, a far cry from the 1 million predicted by organizers. However, the greatest misdeed was the homophobic violence that organizers failed to contain. The worst occurred at the Trocadéro Theater; in guise of a “welcoming committee,” members of ACT UP-Paris working with the Observatoire du PaCS, arranged to unveil a large banner reading “Homophobes,” and signed by “les folles de Chaillot” (“the queens of Chaillot”; the Trocadéro was housed on the site of the former Palais de Chaillot). As soon as they saw the banner, anti-PaCS militants exploded in fury and with iron bars in hand, they pounced on the ACT UP members, shouting “Fucking fags!” “Burn in hell!” and “Piss off with your AIDS!”; they were cheered on by other demonstrators. In the days that followed, the Catholic newspaper
La Croix
was assailed by letters from upset Catholics, many of whom declared that they did not recognize themselves in this demonstration of intolerance. Looking back, some gay and lesbian activists agree that this homophobic violence served to shock public opinion which until then had been indifferent. However, much more energy, talent, communication, and strategy was required to turn this change in opinion into real sympathy that was beneficial to PaCS and gay and lesbian couples throughout France.
—
Caroline Fourest
Borrillo, Daniel, Eric Fassin, and Marcela Iacub, eds.
Au-delà du PACS. L’expertise familiale à l’épreuve de l’homosexualité
. Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1999.
Boutin, Christine.
Le “Mariage” des homosexuels? CUCS, PIC, PACS et autres projets législatifs
. Paris: Critérion, 1998.
Brunnquell, Frédéric.
Associations familiales, combien de divisions?
Paris: Ed. Dagorno, 1994.
Camus, Jean-Yves, and René Monzat.
Les Droites nationales et radicales en France
. Lyon, France: Presses universitaires de Lyon, 1992.
Fourest, Caroline. “Ces Symboles qui tiennent le PaCS à distance de l’égalité,”
ProChoix,
no. 7 (1998).
———. “Quand les manifestations anti-PaCS singent la gay pride,”
ProChoix
, no. 8 (1998).
———, and Fiammetta Venner.
Les Anti-PaCS
. Paris: Ed. Prochoix, 1999.
Monroe, Laurence. “Des familles se fâchent contre le PaCS,”
La Croix
(October 3, 1999).
—Adoption; Boutin, Christine; Catholic Church, the; Family; Far Right; Marriage; Parenting; Rhetoric; Violence.
ARENAS, Reinaldo
Cuban writer and novelist Reinaldo Arenas was born on July 16, 1943. After being abandoned by his father, he and his mother went to live with his grandfather on his farm in Holguín, in the Cuban
provincia
of Oriente. There, Reinaldo grew up surrounded by his aunts and his mother, a tender woman who not only taught him how to read and write, but also filled his childhood with a magical appreciation of the stars and other mysteries of the night.
In 1958, at the age of fifteen, Arenas sought to join the Castroist guerrillas who had risen against General Rubén Fulgencio Batista. Though he did not participate in any military combat, he witnessed the summary executions decreed by the revolutionary tribunals which took place inside La Pantoja which, under Batista, served as a military school in the city of Holguín. After its post-revolution “rehabilitation” to become the School of Planification, Arenas, then sixteen, enrolled to begin his studies to become an agronomist. It was during this time that his first experiences of the new communist regime’s homophobia took place, as those who praised the revolution simultaneously condemned homosexuality. Those students caught engaging in homosexual acts were brought before the headmaster to be expelled, then marched past other students to be beaten and stoned. In the 1960s, Castroist homophobia was expressed in the form of boisterous and reproachful demonstrations that denounced homosexual intellectuals.
In his autobiography,
Antes que anochezca
(
Before Night Falls
), Arenas contrasts two opposing forces in the lives of homosexuals in Cuba. On one hand, he describes a powerful and erotic homosexual underground, which, come nightfall, pervades the streets of Havana, its parks, and along the waterfront (El Malecón), where gay men go to satisfy their urgent impulses. (Arenas admits to his own participation, and describes his impressive record: hundreds of encounters in town, on trains, in the darkness of theaters.) On the other hand, he recounts legislation that, since 1963, allowed for the severe repression of homosexuals in Cuba. A culture of hyper-morality which praised
work
and glorified the homeland and its heroes led to a campaign of persecution, in which homosexuals were subject to denunciation, arrest, and imprisonment, or sent to the specially created UMAP (Military Units for Aide in Production) work camps. However, this legislated repression, as imposed by the regime, generated a defiant response from homosexuals.
Meanwhile, at the age of twenty, Arenas applied to the prestigious Biblioteca Nacional José Martí for the position of storyteller. As part of his application, he wrote a story, then recited it by heart before the jury and the library director who were so impressed that he got the position. His new duties allowed him to come in contact with great writers, which proved to be a significant step in his literary education. His first novel (and the only one ever published in Cuba),
Celestino antes del alba
(
Singing from the Well
), published in 1967, received the first Honorable Mention prize awarded by the UNEAC (National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists). From 1969 onward, however, Arenas fell under the surveillance of the state police who sought to identify his relationships with foreigners and to stop the export of his manuscripts to writers and other allies outside of the country.
In his autobiography, Arenas revealed the circumstances by which his writings, despite these obstacles, were sent abroad. On one occasion, he was aided by Cuban expatriate painter Jorge Camacho, who resided in Paris with his wife Margarita, and with whom Arenas enjoyed a lifelong friendship. He managed to pass along to them his novel
El mundo alucinante
(
Hallucinations
), which was translated by Didier Coste and published in France. Arenas edited
Hallucinations
with the help of Cuban novelist and poet Virgilio Piñera (1912–1979), a gay atheist and anti-communist who eventually became his literary mentor. Subsequent manuscripts, however, such as
Otra vez el mar
(
Farewell to the Sea
), ended up hidden in order to escape the notice of the state police. A friend, Aurelio Cortés, was entrusted with the original copy of
Farewell to the Sea
, who later passed it on to nuns for safekeeping. When the novel’s existence became known, however, it provoked a
scandal
and the novel was destroyed. Two years later, Arenas wrote a new version, though this too he kept hidden under the rooftop tiles where he lived. Police surveillance was becoming more and more intense, as Arenas’s room was regularly inspected and his mail intercepted. In 1970, he was sent to “voluntarily” work in the sugar cane fields, which for him was a hellish experience. That same year, the first Educational and Cultural Congress in Cuba adopted a series of discriminatory measures aimed specifically at gay artists and writers. A system was put into place in which individuals were excluded from certain rights and subsequently forced into work camps because of their sexuality; these individuals were duly informed of the political and moral motives justifying this treatment. In what was more or less a witch-hunt, some writers became informants.
In the summer of 1973, Arenas was arrested in Guanabo after being accused by the police of being a counterrevolutionary; he was freed on bail. After a second arrest, however, he was imprisoned, but succeeded in escaping and headed toward Guantanamo, where he hoped to cross the border into the American military base there. This attempt resulted in failure. Upon covertly returning to Havana, he took refuge in Lenin Park and began writing
Before Night Falls
, which he hurriedly finished in the event he was caught. He was arrested again in December of 1973, convicted of gross indecency, and imprisoned at the notorious El Morro Castle alongside murderers and rapists. He remained behind bars for over two years, interrupted by a three-month stay at state police headquarters, then transferred to the Reparte Flores prison; he was finally released in 1976.
On May 4, 1980, as part of the massive Port of Mariel exodus which aimed to rid Cuba of unwanted elements such as murderers, prostitutes, and homosexuals, Arenas thought he could finally leave the country, but he discovered that because his banned work was such a vivid representation of the country’s problems, the government would not allow him to leave. However, he eluded authorities by changing his name to “Arinas” on his passport, and escaped to the United States, first to Florida, then New York. In 1983, along with other Cuban refugees, he founded the literary magazine
Mariel,
whose first issue was dedicated to the late gay Cuban writer José Lezama Lima. Arenas enjoyed his newfound freedom, often traveling to universities in America and Europe to read from his work. In 1987, however, Arenas was diagnosed with
AIDS
. Three years later in 1990, after battling his illness, Arenas took a fatal overdose of drugs and alcohol in New York. But his legacy continues through his writing, including many works translated into English:
The Palace of the White Skunks
,
Farewell to the Sea
,
Graveyard of the Angels
,
Hallucinations
,
Singing from the Well
,
The Color of Summer
,
The Assault
,
The Doorman
,
Before Night Falls
,
Old Rosa
, and
Mona and Other Tales
. Arenas also collaborated with numerous directors in the production of various films, such as Jorge Ulla’s
En sus propias palabras,
Carlos Franqui’s
La otra Cuba,
Nestor Almendros and Orlando Jiménez Leal’s
Conducta impropia
(1984), and Jana Bokova’s
Havana
(1990). In 2001, New York painter and sculptor Julian Schnabel directed the film adaptation of Arenas’ autobiography
Before Night Falls
, starring Academy Award nominee Javier Bardem as Arenas.
—
André Fernandez
Arenas, Reinaldo.
Antes que anochezca
. Barcelona: Tusquets Editores, SA, 2001. [Published in the US as
Before Night Falls
. Translated by Dolores M. Koch. New York: Penguin, 1994.]
Montaner, Carlos Alberto.
Viaje al corazón de Cuba
. Barcelona: Plaza & Janés Editores, SA, 1999. [Published in the US as
Journey to the Heart of Cuba: Life as Fidel Castro
. New York: Algora, 2001.]
Verdes-Leroux, Jeannine.
La Lune et le Caudillo
,
le rêve des intellectuels et le régime cubain (1959–1971)
. Paris: Gallimard, 1989.
—Armed Forces; Censorship; Communism; Gulag; Latin America; Literature; Police; Violence.
ARMED FORCES
In the Western world to this day, the armed forces remain highly homophobic. It is first a homophobia of proximity. Until recently, the army was an exclusively male domain, and historically has been a place where homoeroticism could easily flourish, as proven by the sacred battalion of Thebes, the armies of Louis XIV, the Prussian regiments under Frederic II, and British colonial troops. Evidence of homophobia in the military is thus linked to the real or imagined perception of a homosexual “threat,” and recruiting officers, perhaps under the impression that the army is an attractive place to many homosexuals, are driven by the fear that the army might become a “lair,” a twisted logic that associates “entryism” with “
contagion
.”