The legacy of Magnus Hirschfeld

[Shana A]

The legacy of Magnus Hirschfeld
IN HINDSIGHT / A gay liberation movement destroyed by hatred
Alistair Newton / Toronto / Thursday, May 20, 2010

http://www.xtra.ca/public/Toronto/The_legacy_of_Magnus_Hirschfeld-8685.aspx

May 14 marks the 75th anniversary of the death of Dr Magnus Hirschfeld. Seventy-two years before Stonewall, Hirschfeld founded one of the world's earliest gay rights groups. Its primary goal was the elimination of Paragraph 175 — the legislation that made gay sex illegal in Germany.

Following its catastrophic defeat in the First World War, Germany established a new democratic republic, known as the Weimar Republic. Weimar-era Berlin was a tilt-a-whirl of economic uncertainty, political upheaval, sexual liberation and personal freedom.

The city boasted 120 newspapers, 40 theatres, as many as 80 gay bars, and — according to a police commissioner of the time — 25,000 rent boys. The flourishing gay culture in Weimar Berlin led Christopher Isherwood to quip famously that he went to the city because "Berlin meant boys."

[gennee]

I can imagine how heartbroken Dr. Hirschfeld was about all his work being destroyed. People blinded by hate and heterosexual superiority contributed to many sexual and gender minorities being murdered. It's great that Dr. Hirschfeld is remembered today for his  work.

Gennee