Marcela and Elisa, the brave women who got married in June 1901 in the church of San Jorge in A Coruña formed the first marriage between two women that we know of. Keeping their story alive has been a constant goal since the birth of our association. The fruit of this work can be seen in the presence of their names in the streets of our city or the tree in their memory in the Bosque de las Mujeres forest in parque de San Diego.
The awards were devised by the first LGTBI collective in A Coruña, Milhomes, on the occasion of the centenary of Marcela and Elisa’s wedding anniversary. In December 2001, the writer Manuel Rivas was in charge of presenting the Premio Homosexual Parroquia de San Jorge award in the bookshop, Lume. After the ceremony, the writer suggested changing the name of the awards to Marcela and Elisa, in memory of these pioneers’ fight for the rights of the collective. Carlos Aymerich, member of the Spanish Parliament, and Pilar Garcia Negro, member of the Galician Parliament, collaborated in the organisation of the event. In 2003, following the advice of Manuel Rivas, the awards were named after Marcela and Elisa.
After the dissolution of the Milhomes collective, ALAS asked Jose Carlos Alonso, a founding member of the collective, for permission to continue the awards.
These awards reward the people or entities of A Coruña city and its region for their work in favour of the rights of the LGTBI community. Consult the chronological list of the awards and their regulations.