This gay doctor established the world’s first trans healthcare clinic in 1919, but he left behind a complicated legacy
Scientific American. Phalloplasty surgeries for trans men would not be practiced until the late 1940s.Dora Richter was Hirschfeld’s patient and the first trans woman to undergo a surgical transition.
Richter had been repeatedly arrested for wearing women’s clothing and was forced to serve her time behind bars with men, the latter being a problem still often faced by trans people.
It was a judge who placed her under Hirschfeld’s care, where she was able to live authentically, according to an article by Them.Hirschfeld’s history of supporting queer rights stretches back to 1897 when he established the Scientific Humanitarian Committee.
The organization is largely regarded as the world’s first LGBTQ+ rights group and was established to abolish Paragraph 175, Germany’s law banning gay sex.
