Between World Wars, Gay Culture Flourished In Berl : NPR

Contents:

• ‘GAY BERL,’ BY ROBERT BEACHY
• QUEER & GAY BERL: YOUR GUI FOR LGBTQ+ BERL
• BETWEEN WORLD WARS, GAY CULTURE FLOURISHED IN BERL
• GAY BERLIN
• GAY BERL
• GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME

‘GAY BERL,’ BY ROBERT BEACHY

Instead, he tak the rear to the other end of the spectm of opn — that homosexualy is and has always been a sexual orientatn fixed om birth, that same-sex love is as normal as heterosexualy, a ndn not amenable to treatment but rather an endowment of nature that should be rpected as part of a person’s ls important, Beachy, an associate profsor of history at Unrwood Internatnal College at Yonsei Universy Seoul, South Korea, lot the origs of this view of human sexualy Germany the mid-19th century, a culture that also produced morn scientific sexologil rearch.

His book refully evaluat the arguments of a number of dividuals this perd who wrote about the subject and agated for the aboln of the wispread legal discrimatns of the elsewhere Europe, the enforcement of anti-gay laws was an issue, and here the book ntas a surprise. While other German ci pursued stricter polici, was Pssian Berl, unr a police missner named Leopold von Meerscheidt-Hüllsem, that more liberal polici were adopted, a velopment that occurred after unrver officers nclud that private clubs and bars for homosexuals were peaceful tablishments and did not nstute a public threat or nuisance.

Activists anized popular assembli, often workg-class districts, that attracted up to a thoand cur listeners, evintly keen to learn ’s study ntas a fascatg chapter on pre-1914 “outg” sndals, the most notor of which ultimately led to the nvictn of one of the emperor’s clost iends, Philipp Prce zu Eulenburg-Hertefeld, though not for illic homosexualy. Another tertg chapter, which foc on the homoerotic and homosexual bondg of adolcents the Wanrvogel youth movement, clus an analysis of the wrgs of Hans Blüher, one of s lears.

QUEER & GAY BERL: YOUR GUI FOR LGBTQ+ BERL

Some genr reassignment operatns were also attempted, but had to be abandoned as too risky and signifince of Beachy’s book go beyond his fdgs on the German roots of the ncln that homosexualy is a blogilly fixed tra. Given the extremism of the Nazi solutn to human difference, took the Germans que a long time after 1945 to reach the sort of openns and tolerance that had existed “Gay Berl” before 1914. A number of lbian women, cludg Johanna Elberskirchen and Toni Schwabe, take a pro-active stance and fight to bee actively volved the gay movement, argug favour of havg their say Magn Hirschfeld's Scientific-Humanarian Commtee.

BETWEEN WORLD WARS, GAY CULTURE FLOURISHED IN BERL

Magaz for gays and lbians are available at public ksks and the venu: they clu Die Frndschaft (Friendship), the Blätter für Menschenrecht (Magaze for Human Rights), Die Frnd (The Girliends), Frenliebe (Women's Love), and Das drte Gchlecht (The Third Sex) for transvt and transsexuals.

GAY BERLIN

There are now around 80 venu for gays and lbians Berl: beer-soaked div and distilleri, bourgeois rtrants, we bars and clubho, dance halls and dance palac, ballrooms and smopolan night-time bars. Numero hotels and gut ho, bety and hairdrsg salons, tailors and photo studs, doctors and lawyers private practice, librari, cigarette and shoe shops, and even a r rental pany, a travel agency and a distributor for potency pills advertise gay and lbian magaz. The owners of the all-night bar for lbians, Mai & Igel, are also affected by the forced closur, while the rnival stume balls for gays and lbians held at the In n Zelten amement strip Berl's Tiergarten, which were also hugely popular among heterosexuals, are banned wh immediate effect.

Homosexuelle Aktn Wtberl is found Berl 1971, om which the femist awakeng emerg 1975 wh the foundg of the Lbian Aktnszentm – along wh the lbian archive Spnbon as an iative for the disvery, and prervatn, of female love.

GAY BERL

Choirs, sports associatns and hikg groups add diversy and vibrancy to the scene Aids-Hilfe is formed 1985, and benefs om wispread support and be a new actor the gay movement. In September 2017, a monument to the world's first gay and lbian emancipatn movement, which was iated by the gay and lbian associatn, is unveiled on Magn-Hirschfeld-Ufer, behd the Feral Chancellery. It is a symbol of the diversy of sexualy and genr, and a metaphor for a nfint, flourishg scene – a landspe that was first nceived of, put to the tt, and ma possible the 1920s – when Berl was a role mol for an ternatnal gay and lbian pal which all queer people uld fd a haven and refuge.

On 1 October 2017 – a Sunday – the first gay and lbian upl marry Germany, cludg Volker Beck, a polician for the Green party, who marri his spoe Berl-Krzberg after a long fight to be able to say “I do”. It is said that there were more than 100 venu for homosexuals at that time, rangg om the famo Eldorado to the ladi dance hall Zur Manuela through to the large balls anised by var homosexual associatns. From 1919, he ran the legendary Instut für Sexualwissenschaft (Instute for Sexual Science), which ma an important ntributn to the emancipatn of gays and lbians all over the world.

After the supprsn of the entire gay and lbian muny and subculture by the Nazis, wasn’t until 1971 that the homosexual scene revered aga – which is when the gay movement Homosexuelle Aktn Wtberl (Homosexual Actn Wt Berl) was found.

GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME

Sce 1993, the gay/lbian cy ftival has been celebrated every year – is the largt of s kd worldwi and ensur to this day that Berl is home to the most diverse, vibrant and popular gay/lbian scen Europe.