Published without the title as the Introduction to Spanish Writers on Gay and Lesbian Themes. A Bio-Critical Sourcebook, ed. David William Foster (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1999), pp. 1-21. Author’s address:
[email protected] Author’s web site: http://bigfoot.com/~daniel.eisenberg or http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/deisenbe “LA ESCONDIDA SENDA”: HOMOSEXUALITY IN SPANISH HISTORY AND CULTURE Prehistory. Roman Spain. Visigoths. Al-Andalus. Sephardic Homosexuality. Medieval Christian Spain. Early Modern Spain. Modern Spain. Franco’s Spain. The Transición and Spain Today. Lesbian Writing in Spain. Gay Hispanists. Bibliography. The richness of Spain’s sexual history and culture is all but unknown. Catholicism was the official religion throughout the country from about 1500 until 1931, and again from 1939 until 1975.1 It was the 1Judaism was prohibited in 1492. Contrary to widespread misconception, Islam was not prohibited until sometime between 1499 and 1501; records do not report the exact date. The libertarian Second Republic began in 1931; since it ended in a civil war from 1936-39, the exact date of restoration of only religion permitted on any terms during most of this period. In keeping with Catholic teachings, the only permitted modes of sexual behavior have been chastity and marital procreative sex. Thus, there has been little interest within Spain in researching Spanish sexuality. Variant sexual behavior has been unacceptable, sinful, “un-Spanish.” If homosexuality did come to light, it was of no interest to study, a stain on the nation’s honor. This repressive official attitude of course had a contrary effect. In Spain, where Catholicism was linked with heterosexuality to a degree it has been in no other country, anti-Catholicism, rebellion, and opposition to authority became similarly linked to homosexuality.