Jailed for being Lesbian at 17, Shunned all her life, Seeks redress

First lesbian who seeks redress for the Spanish fascist repression is still persecuted for being gay, thereforeshe is known only as M.C.D.

Prosecution: “I declare that M. C. D. is a homosexual and a rebel to her family ”
The first lesbian who seeks compensation after being jailed and punished by the Spanish State was sentenced without her counsel making any defense.

M.C.D. feels that she has almost a moral duty to address the media. But she does reluctantly and with limitations: neither her name nor place of residence must be made public.

That process is still not finished, in which a 16 year old girl was arrested, paroled, and a year later as she had ‘not reformed’ judged and convicted at the age of 17  with being a lesbian….

The city in which she lives still shuns her,

causing her refusal to give any details, things are still not easy for her and her partner. Homophobia is not extinct says Antoni Ruiz, president of the Association of Former Prisoners Association, which has advised M. C. D. in her bid to be the first lesbian to seek redress.

She tells the story, halting and reluctantly. “I do not remember where I was when I was first stopped. I was seized by a group of plainclothes police, and that’s it. I’ve  spent my whole life trying to forget, and overcome the psychosis that has made me. like this..”

She does not know why they first arrested her. If anyone complained or if her behavior raised suspicions of the authorities. She just know that ”then I was only 17 , not  even defined as an adult”, and was subjected “to interrogation for months,” she says “I still do not understand why.”

M. C. D. recalls the hardness of a time to be recognized as gay, lesbian or transsexual was a danger. As an example, ”I remember that in my circle of friends two people received electric shock treatment as a way to treat their ‘deviation’. And that wasn’t the worst”

Three others, “a student, a

school teacher who was one of my best friends and a firefighter, committed suicide. If everyone knew five people [who suffered these processes], imagine how extensive it was.”

The judge’s ruling “Instruction and Threat and Social Rehabilitation” of his province gives some clues. Just two pages are enough to illustrate the homophobia even more rampant at the time and how they ruined the life of M. C. D.

She was described as”daughter of an honored family” and accused of being a “clear shameless homosexual having sex with another girl she dominates, seeks and attracts” (A victim of perversion). But she is also alleged to be  ” rebellious to her relatives who she disobeys and even threatens” when they are only “trying to correct and educate” ( from Antoni Ruiz, of the Former prisoners social Association)

Both offenses (being a lesbian and not obeying her family) are at the same level for a system in which the  legal age of adulthood was 21), and was applied to women reluctantly.

So the judge is clear: M. C. D.

“It’s a gay  and rebellious to her family, which is in a dangerous condition.” So they could apply the law of Social Threat 1970 and sentenced her to “internment in a re-education for not less than four months nor more than three years.”

She was also prohibited to  “visit nightclubs and public establishments where alcoholic beverages are ingested for two years.”

For  M. C. D. the memory hurts. But she gets out the irony when discussing her ‘rehabilitation’  “It was a normal jail , Alcazar de San Juan Prison, Ciudad Real province, where I spent four months, and there was no rehabilitation. Well, yes, we did some stuff, knitting, sewing and leather. Certainly they paid us very badly, so someone must have lined their pockets with our work, ” she says.

That this reeducation attempt was a failure is obvious. Although many of the M. C. D.’s circle  attempted escape persecution by marrying, that was not for her. She stayed a known lesbian and is not ashamed.

The Relief Commission Ex-Prisoners Social collegial body under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which is responsible for the resolution of claims for compensation, will now decide the resolution of the petition for moral reparation for suffering prison for being homosexual in 1976 .

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