Lesbians in the Spanish democratic transition period
Lesbians in the Spanish democratic transition period (1975–1982) experienced an increase in civil rights compared to Francoist rule, including the 1978 repeal of a national law criminalizing homosexuality.
Societal attitudes towards homosexuality were ignored in the beginning portion of the transition, but there was no recognition of same-sex relations when it came to legal terms.
[11][9][10] Some radical feminists in this period would choose lesbianism as a form of exerting control over their sexuality that had been repressed by the Franco regime.
"[13][10] The Women's Area of the Fundación Triángulo de Madrid has explained the invisibility of lesbians in this and other periods as, "A gay man has always been able to move to another place, seeking to live his identity in freedom.
"[16] According to Mexican feminist Gloria Careaga, feminism often "moves away from aspects such as sexuality and intimate life to focus on the social and the political."
[16] Spanish lesbians in this period tend to be involved in party politics with Izquierda Unida (United Left) or PSOE.
[24] One of the most important lesbian and gay political organizations in the transition period was the Movimiento Español de Liberación Homosexual (MELH).
[28] Despite external tensions, politically active lesbians faced fewer issues around internal dissent about ideology than their male counterparts.
The group played a crucial role when it came to advocating for Gay rights, visibility, and social acceptance in a time, when specifically lesbians, were dismissed or largely marginalized in Spanish society.
The 1970 Law sought to punish "antisocial" members of society such as beggars, vandals, drug traffickers, pornographers, prostitutes, pimps and illegal immigrants.
[25][6]In an article by Jordi M. Monferrer Tomás, he writes about the oppressive nature of the Law during the Francoist regime and the imprisoning of homosexuals whose actions were deemed illegal.
It differed from American and British activists who were keen to develop political connections and change the legal status for members of the LG community, while maintaining links to explicitly leftist organizations.
The organization had two prominent representatives, a gay man and a lesbian, but largely remained anonymous, explaining it, "We know what we want and we fight to rescue this hypocritical society the rights that correspond to us.
Women participants at the meeting rejected a name change to include the word lesbian because they felt it would create a perception of gender division within the gay rights movement.
[37] The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) was founded in Coventry, United Kingdom in 1978.
Women participants at the meeting rejected a name change to include the word lesbian because they felt it would create a perception of gender division within the gay rights movement.
Importantly though, these radical lesbians and feminist movements were cognizant of the context in which they existed, serving to inform them about patriarchal Spanish systems during the dictatorship and how various elements of society would respond to their needs.
[4] During the mid and late-1970s, lesbian Gretel Ammann played a big role in helping define difference feminism in Catalonia and consequently Spain more broadly.
[11] In the book titled, Queer Transitions in Contemporary Spanish Culture, author Gema Perez-Sanchez states, "Franco's dictatorship sought both to codify and to contain male homosexuals, while it tended to erase or to doubt the existence of actual lesbians... silence itself—while dangerous and limiting in some contexts—can, in other contexts, convey political meaning, uncover hidden emotions, and point to untold stories.
it is a means to disseminate the complex system of ideas and attitudes that helps to consolidate the political project of the ruling group in power.
By including this duality, it highlights that the government leans towards preservation while the lesbians want change by challenging the existing norms in order to have a voice.
Ca la Dona member Mercè Otero said of this first match, "It was a very unitary manifestation and you felt very accompanied, and it is worth remembering it even if you do one each year.
"[55] Front d'Alliberament Gai de Catalunya was form in 1975 in Barcelona, and two years later, in 1977, would host the first Spanish Gay Pride march which saw participation from lesbians, politicians and union members.
It would influence other homosexual activists in the early 1970s in cities like Valencia, Mallorca, Madrid, Malaga, Zaragoza, Santiago de Compostela, Bilbao.
Time of the Cherries (Spanish: Tiempo de cerezas) by Montserret Roig in 1976 is an example of the cliche of students in an all girls school having lesbian sexual experiences.
[11] During the 1960s, Ester Tusquets and her brother Oscar were the owners and influential forces behind the left leaning antidictatorial publisher Editorial Lumen.
[65] The Violet Hour (Spanish: La hora violeta) by Montserrat Roig published in 1980 was one of the more important pieces of writing in the transition period in that it represented lesbian sexuality as a commitment to other women.
[20] Despite the liberalization of Spanish society in the immediate transition period, literature featuring lesbian characters tended to conform to historical type of being secondary figures and representing insubordination against oppressive heteronormative societal norms.
Political feminism that saw lesbianism as a natural endpoint for women began to become a bigger theme in some feminist works of this period.
[69][5] During the Francoist period, she had engaged in some degree of self-censorship while writing about women to not be explicit in her lesbian oriented themes and needed to rely on subtext.
