before the 1969 Stonewall Riots? While the groundbreaking protest blazed a trail for present-day LGBTQ+ civil liberties, the movement can be traced back to 1924, when a Chicago man named Henry Gerber formed the Society for Human Rights (SHR) in Chicago.This month marks 100 year since Gerber launched what’s largely regarded as the country’s first-ever gay rights group. On December 10, his oft-overlooked legacy was celebrated with a panel discussion at the Chicago History Museum.Subscribe to our newsletter for a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.Dec.
10, 1924: The first organization to advocate for gay rights, the Society for Human Rights, is founded in Chicago. Henry Gerber, a gay postal worker, founds the group and publishes a newsletter, Friendship and Freedom, for distribution among its small membership.
1/5 pic.twitter.com/WL337fLJ0QAccording to The Legacy Project, Gerber was born in Bavaria and immigrated to the United States with his family. During World War I, he was forced to enlist in the army and spent three years in Germany, where he witnessed Berlin’s thriving LGBTQ+ scene and learned about Dr.
Magnus Hirschfield’s work in reforming repressive anti-gay laws in Europe through the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee. Gerber, who was briefly institutionalized for homosexuality in 1917, took these learnings back to Chicago and used them as the basis for SHR.The organization’s purpose, as he wrote in filings, was to “promote and protect the interests of people who by reasons of mental and physical abnormalities are abused and hindered in the legal pursuit of happiness which is guaranteed them by the Declaration of Independence” and “combat public prejudices … by dissemination of factors according to modern science.”In 1924, Henry Gerber established the Society for Human Rights.
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