After sending gays to work camps and denying them basic human rights for decades before homosexuality was legalized in 1979, Cuba is now poised to become one of the most gay-tolerant countries in Latin America if Mariela Castro has her way. Ms. Castro is the niece of Cuban President Fidel Castro and head of the government's National Centre for Sex Education, which advocates for gay rights in Cuba.

The work they have done so far has centered around AIDS prevention and also in promoting a federally funded soap opera with gay characters. However, it seems that Ms. Castro is ready to tackle the "partnership" issue. When asked directly about whether she will campaign for legal gay marriages, she tip-toed around, saying, "We do not know what we will propose. It depends on what we identify as homosexuals' and lesbians' main needs. Marriage is not as important in Cuba as in other more Catholic countries. Here consensual pairing is more important, what matters is love."

Even if only a civil union law was introduced, it would put Cuba far ahead of every other Latin American country (and the United States) on gay rights.

Gay revolution hits Cuba [PinkNews]

Say what you will about Fidel Castro – we've been in is company, and we say: he talks for too long – and his Communist Cuba, but he's got one progressive offering even the U.S. can't claim: a state-sponsored soap opera with prominent gay characters. In La Cara Oculta de la Luna (The Dark Side of the Moon), feelings of attraction between men and dealing with the HIV crisis are all fair game and have become crucial to the show's storylines.

In a recent episode of "La Cara Oculta de la Luna," ("The Dark Side of the Moon"), Yasel, who is married and the father of a little girl, is as surprised as viewers are to discover he is physically attracted to another man named Mario.

The attraction leads to a sexual relationship and Yasel's subsequent contraction of the HIV virus that causes AIDS.

Keep in mind, Cuban society is in line with the rest of Latin American society: machismo rules, and feminine men are outcasts. So to see gays on Cuban TV is nothing short of revolutionary. But there will always by cynics. Given the AIDS storyline, some argue the show simply perpetuates the stereotype that AIDS is the punishment gay men deserve.

Cuban soap's gay story starts dialogue [AP]

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Your ability to update your MySpace page during work? Being able to hit up BitTorrent for and endless supply of gay porn? Surely you don't take those freedoms for granted, because so much of the world will never be allowed to do any of that, let alone have an email account that goes unmonitored or read any online news source of their choosing.

It doesn't begin and end with Google pairing up with the Chinese government to offer a toned down version of its search engine. From Cuba – where a "black market in Internet access has sprung up," which we've seen first-hand – to Vietnam and China, many of the world's citizens with access to the Internet aren't seeing the whole picture, thanks to government censorship.

But America's federal government isn't the only bloated bureaucracy that has a hard time with tech. Since many countries rely on out-of-the-box solutions – the same software moms and dads pick up at Best Buy – they're easily circumvented.

But it's still too soon to know whether censors will be able to keep the Web under heel. Most governments are not sophisticated in their attempts at censorship—they rely on simple filtering technologies that can be defeated by a determined political opposition. Even in China, information is seeping through. The regime is having trouble staying on top of the 111 million residents now online—less than 10 percent of the country's population. It's hard to imagine how it will keep up as that number swells.

Though if you read the New York Times Magazine article on Internet censorship in China, the picture seems a little brighter: citizens, it's argued, just don't want to escape the censorship. Or at least that's true for citizens willing to have their names in print.

The Web Police [The Atlantic]

• The man who murdered prominent Jamaican gay rights leader Brian Williamson has pleaded guilty, but the police refuse to call it a hate crime, saying it was a "robbery gone wrong." We are unsure why a robber would bother stabbing someone 70 times in the neck if they didn't have another agenda. [365 Gay]

• Mary Cheney supports gay marriage! Who knew? [ABC]

• Cuba gets its own Queer As Folk, except there is only one queer and he's not shown kissing or touching his partner. But they talk about it, and that's enough to offend some Havana residents. [BBC]

• A gay London police officer may run for mayor, but only if asked. How polite of him. [Pink News]

• Nine men are being held in a Cameroon jail for being gay. The government refuses to release them despite international protest. [UK Gay News]

• Robert Mapplethorpe makes it to Cuba finally. The exhibit of iconic photographer's work is a symbol of just how far attitudes towards homosexuals have changed. [ABC]

• Rich over at Four Four dissects Throbbing Gristle’s classic and Billie Ray Martin’s cover of “Persuasion.” We love both versions, but definitely choose Billie. And it has nothing to do with that fact that she reads Queerty. [Four Four]

• Is this a joke? Or is this queen serious about his desire to win weblog awards? Oh wait, he advertises with us. He must be serious. [Brat Boy School]

• And now we cannot wait for the biggest bitch in blogging to attack. We smell a blog bitch fight! [Vividblurry]

• Like American Apparel, we are all about sodomy during the holidays. Except not with reindeers. [American Apparel]