Lesbians in the Spanish Second Republic

Lesbians in the Second Spanish Republic and Civil War period were doubly discriminated against, as a result of their gender and sexual practices. Prior to the Second Republic, lesbians in Spain were largely ignored, eclipsed by gay men. They faced discrimination as they challenged definitions around what it meant to be a woman. While homosexuality was not condemned by law, it was possible for lesbians to face more severe punishment when charged with violation of morals because of their sexual orientation.

During the Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, the first modern laws specifically punishing homosexual acts came into force, though few cases ever came to court because gays and lesbians were considered by jurists to have mental illness. Lesbians also lived in a culture oriented around the Roman Catholic Church, which set gender norms and dictated laws which left women in general with few rights and little social capital. Where lesbians were more accepted, they tended to be stereotypes as either very masculine or overly feminine. Their social capital was at its strongest during this period in Madrid. A few prominent lesbians would rise in this period, though their lesbianism would not be known by wider society in many cases until many years later. These women included Marisa Roësset, Victoria Kent, Carmen de Burgos, Irene Polo, Carmen Conde, Matilde Ras and Elena Fortún who were all part of the Sapphic Circle of Madrid during the 1920s.

The Second Republic would usher in a period where women had more rights under the law, and where women were politically empowered for the first time. Homosexuality was also stripped from the penal code, though there were still ways for which lesbians could be charged, for example by being deemed dangerous to the state, or simply being detained by the state even if their behavior was not criminal. Prominent lesbians of this period included Lucía Sánchez Saornil, América Barroso, Margarita Xirgu, Irene Polo, Carmen de Burgos, María de Maeztu, Victoria Kent and Victoria Ocampo.

Lesbian women were often lumped alongside heterosexual women in the Civil War period, and blending in was often a survival technique. Homophobia and gender violence in Nationalist zones and rural parts of Spain made life dangerous for lesbians. Those who could went into exile. Some who could not often found themselves in prison.

The end of the war saw Francoist Spain reimpose strict Roman Catholic based gender norms and a return of women lacking legal autonomy. Women who did not adhere to expected gender norms, like lesbians, were at increased risk of punishment by the state. At the same time, the state largely could not understand lesbianism so the risk was less than that of their male counterparts. Women in exile faced a double burden of being lesbian and female. Some lesbians continued to be involved in the activism they had espoused in the Second Republic and the Civil War.

Historical memory has helped share stories of LGBT people during the Civil War. This can be problematic at times because the stories of many lesbians have been forgotten or never told in the first place. It makes it hard to remember lesbians if they have been erased from history.