Gays Under the Francisco Franco Dictatorship

The Spanish government under Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is offering a one-time payment of approximately $17,000 and a $1,000 monthly pension to the gays that were imprisoned and tortured under the Francisco Franco Dictatorship.

In 1954, the Franco government imprisoned, tortured and often killed gays as a violation of the Ley de Vagos y Maleantes (or Vagrancy Act). Because homosexuality was listed as a criminal offense, gays were unable to work nor contribute to their pensions.

As homosexuality transitioned from a crime to a mental illness, gays were arrested and sent to "correction camps" in an attempt to cure them by means of electric-shock therapy--not unlike the voluntary ex-gay camps of today. The victims were also forced to watch heterosexual pornography as images of "normal" sexual behavior.

The Independent Online reports Franco regime General Queipo del Llano, as once saying, "Any effeminate or introvert who insults the movement will be killed like a dog."

Many of the "effeminate" victims have since died. One of the most famous was playwright Federico Garcia Lorca, who wrote Blood Wedding and The House of Bernarda Alba. He was killed by firing squad in Grenada in 1936.

Homosexuality was illegal in Spain up until 1979. In 2001, Spain expunged the "criminal" records gays and in 2005 the country became the third in the world to legalize gay marriage.

Compensatory legislation is expected in early 2007.