Dance of the Forty-One

The Dance of the Forty-One or the Ball of the Forty-One (Spanish: El baile de los cuarenta y uno) was a society scandal in early 20th-century Mexico, during the presidency of Porfirio Díaz.^[1][2][3][4] The incident revolved around an illegal police raid^[5] carried out on 17 November 1901 against a private home on Calle de la Paz (since renamed Calle Ezequiel Montes) in Colonia Tabacalera of Mexico City, the site of a dance attended by a group of men, of whom 19^[6] were dressed in women's clothing.

The press was keen to report the incident, in spite of the government's efforts to hush it up, since the participants belonged to the upper echelons of society. The list of the detainees was never published.^[1][4] Only 41 men were officially arrested; however, there were rumors that Ignacio de la Torre y Mier, son-in-law of President Porfirio Díaz, was also in attendance. Of the 41 men arrested for "offense to morals and good manners", most paid for their freedom and only 12 were eventually sent to work in the Yucatán.^{[citation needed]}

The scandal was called by prominent writer Carlos Monsiváis "the invention of homosexuality in Mexico", due to it being the first time homosexuality was openly spoken about in the Mexican media.^[7] The event was derided and satirized in the popular media of the era. The group was frequently termed the 41 maricones. With the rise of the LGBT movement, the event has been depicted more empathetically in contemporary media.