Magnus Hirschfeld: The Origins of the Gay Liberation Movement

Before Kinsey there was Magnus Hirschfeld. In Nazi Germany he was demonized. He was Jewish, gay, and left-wing. This is the remarkable story of his pioneering contribution to sexological research, sexual law reform, feminism, and LGBT emancipation. Be inspired!

—Peter Tatchell, human rights & LGBT campaigner

Magnus Hirschfeld is one of the forgotten giants of history. He can rightly be considered the founder of the first gay liberation movement, more than a century ago. The target of vicious anti-Semitism and homophobia, he was brave enough to stand his ground and keep fighting for justice. Ralf Dose’s biography will help restore Hirschfeld and the movement he led to the pages of history. This history needs to be known.

—John D’Emilio, co-author, Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America

Elegant and erudite. This is a wonderful introduction to the life and work of Magnus Hirschfeld, the ‘Einstein of Sex’ in early twentieth-century Germany. Dose’s concise account is moving and suspenseful, chock full of revealing details on everything from trans rights to aphrodisiacs and contraceptives to new theories of orientation and desire. The book powerfully captures the virulence of rising antisemitism within which Hirschfeld’s research and activism unfolded, and the devastating impact of the eventual ascent of the Nazis.

—Dagmar Herzog, author, Sexuality in Europe: A Twentieth-Century History

The pioneer of the modern homosexual rights movement, physician and biologist Magnus Hirschfeld based his campaign on science: he sought constantly to prove that gayness was an inborn natural anomaly—a “third sex.” This controversial theory divided the movement and was rejected by those who saw themselves as “regular men.” A hundred years later, however, it is Hirschfeld’s idea of an innate gay minority that has facilitated the integration of homosexuality into the globalized capitalist order. Ralf Dose’s very readable short biography provides twenty-first century readers with the essential life and times of this charismatic figure.

—David Fernbach, author, The Spiral Path: A Gay Contribution to Human Survival

Dose’s biography fills a major gap by providing the first fully informed study in English of Hirschfeld’s life and works. Objective and concise, it is a welcome addition to LGBT history.

—James Steakley, University of Wisconsin, Madison; author, The Homosexual Emancipation Movement in Germany

For those whose knowledge of the gay rights movement begins with Stonewall—or worse, with the fight for marriage equality—Ralf Dose’s short but well-researched monograph … comes at a propitious moment, when the State grudgingly hallows the LGBTQ community with the dubious privilege of matrimony.

—Popmatters