Content warning: This is just a very brief overview. Please note that there are references to violence, Nazi crimes, antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, racism and sex. Some of the terminology and research mentioned are outdated and have only been used within the historic context.

German unification: debate about human rights and identity formation

For most of its history, Germany did not exist as a one-nation state. It had been split into – at times – 3,000 different entities joined up in loose polities such as the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation or the German Confederation, each polity with their own rulers and laws. This meant that criminal laws, including sodomie and indecency laws, fervour of prosecutions and the level of censorship varied from entity to entity. A decade of lively discussions about human rights and the design of the new Criminal Code preceded the formation of the German Reich in 1871. In this context the first modern gay rights activist appeared.

Karl Heinrich Ulrich was a lawyer, who lived openly as a “Urning” (Uranian), a term he coined to desribe men desiring men, while calling women desiring women “Urninde”. In 1867 Ulrich caused massive outrage at the annual gathering of the German lawyer’s association when he spoke to demand the impunity of gay sex. In 1868 writer Karl Maria Kertbeny created the word “Homosexualität” in a letter while living in Germany and continued writing about it from an anthropological and human rights viewpoint.

After the proclamation of the German Reich in 1871 the new German Criminal Code criminalised consensual sexual acts between men in paragraph 175 for all German regions. Indecency laws criminalised many transgender and gender non-conforming people for violating gendered dress codes.

Magnus Hirschfeld, a doctor and sexologist from a wealthy Jewish family, was himself gay – though in private. Hirschfeld founded the “Wissenschaftlich-humanitäre Komitee” (Scientific-Humanitarian Committee) in 1897, advocating for the emancipation of homosexual, intergender and transgender people, encouraging collaborations with feminist organisations. The “Gemeinschaft der Eigenen” (Community of Free Spirits) around Adolf Brand advocated for a dominant male culture following misogynistic, racist and eugenic agendas, which considered male-to-male love as sign for manliness.

Reports of the Harden-Eulenburg affair between 1907 and 1909 caused a scandal and spread the idea of homosexuality widely, when a conservative journalist – with the aim to force Emperor Wilhelm into a signifantly more aggressive military foreign policy – accused members the Emperor’s cabinet and entourage of homosexual conduct, resulting in multiple court cases.

Increased visibility and Nazism

After World War I and the proclamation of the democratic Weimar Republic in 1918 Germany had one of the most liberal constitutions of its time and quite lax censorship rules, which enabled the creation of a culture that is still celebrated today, for instance. in movies such as Cabaret:

• Magazines, e.g. Die Freundschaft” or “Die Freundin” for homosexual and gender non-conforming and trans readers spread knowledge even to more provincial areas and created community.
• The song “Das Lila Lied” (The Lavender Song), released in 1920 is considered one of the first gay anthems.
• The 1919 film “Anders als die Andern” (Different from the Others) featured one of the first sympathetic portrayals of a gay character on film.
• In 1919 Magnus Hirschfeld founded the „Institut für Sexualwissenschaft“ (Institute for Sexual Science) in Berlin. The institute ran educational programmes for doctors and provided treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, abortions, family planning, helped intersex patients, played a crucial role in the first modern gender-affirming surgery and served as community hub. Trans and gender non-confirming individuals could apply for a transvestite pass that protected them from legal prosecution for wearing the clothes they felt comfortable in.
• It created a colourful nightclub culture, specifically in Berlin, with venues such as the popular lesbian nightclub Damenklub Violetta and the Eldorado clubs, famous for gender-non-conforming dancers and same-sex couples.

However, Germany’s 1920 were not really a paradise for queer people. Paragraph 175 continued to criminalise gay sex, and by the Mid 1920s far right paramilitaries and student groups regularly attacked members of the queer community. Parliament became increasingly volatile. Some groups within the LGTBQ+ community turned out to be very anti-semitic, felt close to Nazi ideology, and became NSDAP members, such as Ernst Röhm, as shown, e.g., in the docu-drama “Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate.

After the Nazi party abolished democratic rule in 1933, LGTBQ+ people quickly came under systematic attack, as were Jews, Roma, communists, etc. As part of the “Aktion wider den undeutschen Geist” (Action against the Un-German Spirit) student groups and the Sturmabteilung (SA) raided and ransaked the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft 6^th of May 1933 and its books, research materials and a bust of Magnus Hirschfeld ended up on top of the big Book Burning bonfire at Berlin’s Opernplatz 10^th of May 1933 with other work from Jewish and socialist writers. Hirschfeld happened to be abroad during the events. He stayed in exile until his death in 1935.

The Nazis tightended paragraph 175 in 1935. They prosecuted and killed many gay men and transwomen and killed Ernst Röhm and other homosexual Nazis. It is estimated that 5,000-15,000 gay men were sent to concentration camps, marked with a pink triangle, many were killed. Women who did not fit easily into the mould of a “good German woman” also suffered from prosecution. Many tried to emigrate, others went underground or kept a low profile, but this was only a potential option for people classed as Aryan.

Post World War II

After World War II, Germany was divided. Both, East and West Germany, continued with the repression of queer people and the criminalisation of gay sex. In West Germany a further 45,000 men were convicted under paragraph 175 between 1950 and 1965, whereas in East Germany prosecutions were less determined, since paragraph 175 had reverted to its Pre-1935 version. Social conservatism dominated both societies, dictated by Christian morale in the West and Sowjet ideology in the East. Bisexual and lesbian women were strongly affected by patriarchial family laws.

By the late 1960s more modern ideas had entered the civil service and the justice system in West Germany. As part of a reform of the criminal law consensual sex between men over 21 was decriminalised in 1969. Queer culture and activism became invigorated and more vocal organisations formed within the broad range of civil rights and social change movements of the 1960s and 70s.

Cult gay film director Rosa von Praunheim premiered the film “Nicht der Homosexuelle ist pervers, sondern die Situation, in der er lebt“(It is not the homosexual who is perverse, but the society in which he lives) at the Berlinale in 1971 and in 1972 it was broadcast on TV. The first West-German gay-lesbian demonstration took place in Münster in 1972. Bit by bit women rights and family law changed and the introduction of the “Transsexuellengesetz” in 1981 guaranteed limited transrights, although under very draconian conditions.

The focus of LGTBQ+ rights changed drastically with the arrival of the Aids epidemic in the 1980s. Fear of infection was widespread and some politicians advocated for the internment of gay men and infected people. However, by 1987 West Germany had implemented a more progressive and inclusive Public Health policy, where governments, health authorities and queer organisations such as the Aids-Hilfe (equivalent to the Terrence Higgins Trust) worked together to achieve widespread health education, destigmatisation and acceptance of sexual diversity.

Censorship and a ban on political gatherings hindered queer community groups and activists in East Germany significantly, but East Germany legalised gender reassignment in 1976, although with strict conditions. In 1988 any laws criminalising homosexuality were abolished.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, most West German laws and regulations were implemented as laws in the united Germany. The advocacy of newly formed gay rights groups in East Germany proved crucial in implementing the more liberal East German approach with respect to homosexuality. Finally, after more than 120 years, paragraph 175 was abolished for the whole of Germany in 1994.

Queer rights in the modern Germany:

Since Germany’s reunification there has been rapid progress in terms of the visibility of queer people in society, in media and in politics. When during the election campaign in 2001 Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit heard rumours about a hostile media campaign planning to out him, he announced during a press conference “Ich bin schwul und das ist gut so.” (I am gay and that’s a good thing). He instantly became famous and popular, the sentence became a catchphrase all over the media and he won the election, hinting at a more tolerant society. The presentation of Germany’s LGTBQ+ community has become more diverse, with increased visibility of queer people of colour, and more diverse identities. It has achieved significant progress in terms of human and civil rights:

• 2001 saw the introduction of civil partnership for same-sex couples.
• In 2002 Germany formally annulled the convictions of gay men received under Nazi rule.
• In 2008 the Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted Under Nazism opened in Berlin, triggering a hefty debate about the inclusion of lesbian women.
• 2017 saw the introduction of marriage equality. In addition, a law that rehabilitated those convicted of consensual homosexual activities since 8 May 1945 came into effect.
• The German constitutional court ruled in 2017 that it was unconstitutional to refuse intersex people the option of a third positive gender in the German civil status register. Since 2018 intersex people can choose between female, male, diverse or no-entry.
• In 2020 a ban on conversion therapy in the context of sexual orientation or gender identity came into effect and since 2021 a new law protects intersex youth from forced surgical changes.
• Since 2024 the Act on Self-Determination with regard to Gender Entry has simplified the process of changing the official first name and the gender marker in the German civil status register, which not only applies to intersex, but also benefits transgender, genderless and non-binary people.

Despite all this progress there are reasons for concern in Germany’s queer community, as in the UK. Quite often LGTBQ+ rights are in danger at the same time as the rights of other minorities. Whether in our times of economic uncertainty and political turmoil we will be moving forward or backward in terms of human rights will to some extent depend on the determination and collaboration of all of us.

Sources:

Bühner, M., Gammerls B. (2025), Deutsche Geschichte, queere Perspektiven, https://www.bpb.de/shop/zeitschriften/apuz/queer-2025/562120/deutsche-geschichte-queere-perspektiven/

Deutschlandfunk: Queere Geschichte. Liebe, Sex und Konzentrationslager (2025), https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/queere-geschichte-verfolgung-gleichberechtigung-100.html

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