Homosexual Emancipation in Germany: 1897

The German Homosexual Emancipation Movement and the United States

by Jonathan Ned Katz. Copyright (c) by Jonathan Ned Katz. All rights reserved. Reedited by Katz from Gay American History (1976).

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Starting in 1897, with the founding of the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee in Berlin by Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld and others, a German homosexual emancipation movement was under way. The committee's goals were to abolish the German law against male homosexuality, to change the public's generally negative opinion of homosexuals, and to interest homosexuals themselves in the struggle for their rights. The committee campaigned for law reform, published emancipation literature and the Yearbook for Sexual Intermediate Types (1899-1923), held public forums, and sent speakers on lecture tours.