1970s gay liberation fronts relied on extensive transnational networks spanning several continents. Spanish fronts were born in the extremely hostile context of the last years of the Francoist dictatorship, marked by the infamous Social Danger and Rehabilitation Act which actively prosecuted, among others, “acts of homosexuality” and established the creation of internment camps for homosexuals and trans people. After the death of Franco in 1975, the fronts spread and became more organised, and in this context they made contact with groups like the British Campaign for Homosexual Equality and the Gay Liberation Front. Researcher Iago Mora Arcas follows the evolution of publications by Spanish gay liberation fronts in the Campaign for Homosexual Equality and Gay Liberation Front collections, now part of the Hall-Carpenter Archives at LSE Library. He also looks at later Spanish journals in the collection up to the triumphalist context of the early 2000s in Spain.
The 1970s: clandestinity and effervescence
The first LGBT+ political group in Spain, a clandestine groupuscule operating between 1972 and 1974, had as one of its main activities the publication of the bulletin, AGHOIS, edited in France and then Sweden due to persecution by Francoist authorities. Two years later, French association Arcadie contacted the late-Francoist Spanish VP asking to repeal the repressive “Social Danger and Rehabilitation Act”, in a letter that was also shared with the British Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) and that is now part of the Hall-Carpenter Archives at LSE Library.
1976 and 1977 see the birth and quick expansion of multiple gay liberation fronts across Spain, leading to publications like Gay Hotsa (EHGAM, Basque Country, 1977-1987), Gai Debat (Catalonia’s FAGC, 1979-1980, who also published a FAGC International Monthly Newsletter in 1979) or Aquí: el FLHOC (Castille, 1982). After a series of illegal but successful demonstrations in 1977 and 1978, the groups grow, and their common demands gain presence in mainstream media. In this context, internal tensions emerge, and FAGC split-off CCAG in Catalonia pushes for a more comprehensive and radical agenda, developed in the richly designed issues of La Pluma (1978).
This sarcastic illustration on the back cover of La Pluma (pictured above) shows a “mariquita” (“pansy”) being approached by an angel symbolising the new Constitution, surrounded by cherubs representing the main political parties who signed it. It reads: “If you are a good, hard-working mariquita (gai), if you are not too femme and you do not go into the streets, fully integrating yourself in this democratic society, you will be blessed among all the rest, because you will be legalized.” He replies: “If it is for the sake of LEGALISATION and INTEGRATION, let thy will be done.” Formal decriminalisation of homosexuality took place three months later, even if repression continued. The assimilationist politics caricatured by the CCAG here would become dominant in later years following a long period of demobilisation after homosexuality became decriminalised.
The appearance of commercial publications and new forms of activism
After the elimination of homosexuality from the Social Danger Act in 1979, as well as the continued repression of LGBT+ groups, the 1980s saw a decline of organised political activity from gay liberation fronts. Parallel to this, new commercial publications targeting LGBT+ (or, mostly, gay) audiences appear, the most influential of which was Party (spare issues, 1978-1983). The erotic component of these magazines is also visible in Visado (1986) or Gay’O de accion entre hombres, and most feature sections with contact boards and lists of gay bars, saunas and cruising spots.
In the next decade, publications like Entiendes (1992-1994, 1998, from Madrid’s COGAM) or Infogai (1992-1998, from the renewed FAGC) showcased the more moderate, association-based and institutionally-oriented activism that would become prevalent in the start of the 21st century. This period continued to see an important lack of militants and had to face the outbreak of HIV, in response to which small groups like La Radical Gai (who published De un plumazo) and LSD staged creative and highly critical interventions.
The 2000s saw important legal and social triumphs from institutionally-oriented groups, including equal marriage and trans legislation. It is also the period of the consolidation of a gay and lesbian aspirational imaginary epitomised by the “gayborhood” of Chueca and high profile commercial publications like Shangay (1995-2003, spare issues) or Zero (1998-2004), which featured an interview with PM Rodríguez Zapatero and published the fashion and lifestyle supplement Zero de Moda. The following years saw a decline of specialised publications, both commercial and political, with social media and mainstream outlets playing a greater role in more recent issues like trans visibility and a new Trans Act in 2023.
How to use LSE Library archives for your research
LSE archives are open to all. Get in touch with the Library at library.enquiries@lse.ac.uk to find out more about accessing and using our LGBT+ collections and other archives and special collections for your own research project.
