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"Progressive movements in society led to changes that meant that, by the turn of the millennium, Spain was ready for Elena Fortún to come out as a lesbian after her death. Such movements for greater openness and tolerance are often seen as linear, but I prefer to view them as a wave movement – windows that open and close, and it is we, the citizens, who decide whether they should stay open or closed," says Elena Lindholm.

Relative gaps of tolerance

In the early 1900s, the Spanish society was poor and conservative. Progressive movements seeking sexual liberation were met with fear that traditional values would be destroyed. Elena Fortún lived in Madrid, where she married a man with whom she had children. She lived a heterosexual life as a wife and mother, but later began spending time in sapphic circles. 

Windows open and close, and it is we, the citizens, who decide whether they should stay open or closed.

"During the interwar period, there were relative pockets of tolerance in Madrid where people could, to a certain extent, live out a non-conforming sexual identity. But the emphasis is on relative. Elena Fortún also moved in feminist circles, but even in those circles homosexuality was not desirable – there was a fear that it would tarnish the feminist movement."

The political climate in Spain is characterised by extremes, with communism and anarchism on one side and the Catholic far right on the other. This polarisation culminated in the Spanish Civil War, which lasted from 1936 to 1939, with the extreme right opposing the democratically elected government, ultimately resulting in Francisco Franco coming to power as dictator. Elena Fortún then went into exile from Spain to Argentina with her husband.

"She continues to publish children's books about Celia in Spain. Two of the books – one about Celia at school and one depicting Celia as a teenager with a boyfriend – are classified as inappropriate by religious authorities close to the dictatorial regime, which in practice meant that they were censored and stopped being sold."

Elena Fortún moved in feminist circles, but even in those circles homosexuality was not desirable – there was a fear that it would tarnish the feminist movement.

Just over 20 years after the first book was published in 1929, it is time for the Celia series to come to an end. Elena Fortún wants Celia, now an adult, to have a job and become a librarian. However, the values of the Franco regime are well established, so the publisher insists that Celia get married, which she does.

"There was no other way forward – it was an adaptation to the social climate that prevailed in Spain in the 1950s. In letters to her publisher in Madrid, it becomes clear that Elena Fortún not only accepts Celia's fate, but also believes that it is a fitting ending. It is as if oppression has worn her down."

Comes out as lesbian after her death

Elena Fortún finally returned to Spain in 1950 and died in Barcelona in 1952. Before her death, she asked a friend to burn the boxes she had left behind in Argentina. The boxes turn out to contain notes and unpublished material depicting homosexuality. Despite Elena's express wish, her friend chooses not to burn the documents – they are preserved but remain unpublished for many years.

We who live today can learn from these experiences and see what it does to a person to live in a society that considers homosexuals to be deviant and sick.

"Depictions of lesbians were unusual at the time, as homosexuality was such a taboo subject. The fact that this material has been preserved means that we who live today can learn from these experiences and see what it does to a person to live in a society that considers homosexuals to be deviant and sick – that is very important."

More than half a century after Elena Fortún's death, in 2016, Oculto sendero was published – an autobiographical novel about María Luisa Arroyo, a protagonist who resembles Elena Fortún in many ways and who grows up as a lesbian young woman in Spain in the early 20th century.

"The book was very well received. The fact that homosexuality is socially accepted in a completely different way in Spain now than just a few decades ago meant that the country was ready for the book. Discrimination still exists, but the vast majority of people in Spain have a modern view of LGBTQ people and homosexuality, just like here in Sweden, "concludes Elena Lindholm.