Cultural Influences In Spain

Most of the historical events and cultural influences in Spain are due to its geographical location. Third biggest country in the Western Europe is located in Iberian Peninsula that serves as a bridge between Africa and rest of the Western European countries. Each period in Spanish history carried the great influence in the formation of their beliefs and their lifestyle. Long time before Christians and Muslims came to the Spanish land, Sephardi (Jewish Spain) was the leader in Judaism was also known for their homosexual practices that were so prevalent to the point they could be called normal. David W. Foster shares with us in his research that the word “jew” was associated with homosexuals, however later on, it was replaced by Islam that also followed the …show more content…
After catholic conquerors took over the last state of Andalucía any homosexual act was subject to a death penalty and Judaism as well as Islam were banned. Following laws of Christian Church, LGBTQs had to go underground to not to be accused in sodomy. However, due to hard work and sacrifice of gay activists the death penalty for homosexual acts was removed in 1822 with the first Spanish penal code, which referred only to unchaste abuses. In 1868, the crime of causing public scandal was added, however, homosexual acts haven’t been openly discussed in print. During the Franco regime, the situation got worse. Francoists were so concerned to implement heterosexual practices and fix proper gender roles making any deviation from the norm perceived as dangerous political challenge to the dictatorship, which made the fate of homosexuals similar to that of political