Maricones in Exile: Experiences of Dislocation of Two Spanish Gay Men in Mexico

This paper examines the exile experiences of the scholar and musical critic Adolfo Salazar and the folk singer and dancer Miguel de Molina, two queer public figures who were forced to leave Spain to escape the violence of the Civil War and the intolerance of franquismo, seeking refuge in Mexico in order to rebuild their lives and professional careers—each following a different path. Although the personalities and experiences of these two men could not have been more different, they were both placed in the same homogenizing category: that of maricones. The purpose of this paper is to offer an understanding of a particular dimension of the experiences of Spanish exiles in Mexico that has received scarce attention to date, namely, their sexual identity. As refugees, their sexual identity was a central element in building or rebuilding their social networks and a key factor shaping their success or failure in their personal and professional experiences.

Thus, I follow the steps of both characters trough three stages: First, I examine the conditions of their lives in Spain, before the outbreak of the war in 1936. Next, I describe their experiences during the conflict and the circumstances that forced them to seek refuge in Mexico (in the case of Salazar in 1939 and in that of Molina in 1945). Lastly, I compare each one’s experiences during the period they lived in Mexico City, focusing in the sociability networks that they both built (or tried to build) in the host country.