15 May
Unnatural fornication, whether between persons of the male sex or of humans with beasts, is to be punished by imprisonment; a sentence of loss of civil rights may also be passed.
Paragraph 175 Unnatural fornication(May 15 1871)
Today in 1897 the Wissenschaftlich-humanitäre Komitee (Scientific-Humanitarian Committee) was founded in Berlin. It was the world’s first organisation to campaign for the civil rights of homosexual and transgendered men and women, and for the repeal of paragraph 175 of the German Imperial Penal Code, which made male homosexuality a criminal offence.
Founded by Doctor Magnus Hirschfeld, publisher Max Spohr, lawyer Eduard Oberg and the writer Max von Bülow, the group obtained over 6000 signatures including that of Albert Einstein, Hermann Hesse, Thomas Mann and Rainer Maria Rilke, petitioning for the repeal of this paragraph.
The campaign was unsuccessful and in 1935 the code was strengthened by the Nazis, broadening the range of offences to include ‘lewdness between men’ such as acts involving no physical contact.
‘Love is a conflict between reflexes and reflections.’
Magnus Hirschfeld
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365 days is co-authored by Steve Platt and Fiona Osler
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