"Brokeback Mountain" is screened in Cuba...

A screening of "Brokeback Mountain" on Cuban state TV was part of a day of unprecedented openness in the communist-run island where prejudice against homosexuals remains deeply rooted in Cuban society.

So the screening and a day-long government-backed campaign against homophobia on Saturday is a big deal and seems to be thanks to an important ally: President Raul Castro's daughter, Mariela (pictured with two unidentified friends), who presided over the largest gathering of openly gay activists ever to be held in Cuba.

"The freedom of sexual choice and gender identity (are) exercises in equality and social justice," Mariela Castro said to the Associated Press.. She is the director of Cuba's Center for Sexual Education, "This is a very important moment for us, the men and women of Cuba, because for the first time we can gather in this way and speak profoundly and with scientific basis about these topics.".

Cuba's parliament is studying proposals to legalize same-sex unions and give gay couples the benefits that people in traditional marriages enjoy. It's a far cry from the the 1960s and 1970s, when homosexuals hid their sexuality for fear of being ridiculed, fired from work or even imprisoned.