Society for Human Rights, First Gay Rights Group, Founded
The Society for Human Rights, arguably the first gay rights group in America, was founded on this day in Chicago by Henry Gerber, a postal worker.
The group published Friendship and Freedom, believed to be the first homosexual-interest magazine in America. Gerber was arrested in Chicago on sex perversion charges, and while those charges were dropped, he was convicted of disorderly conduct and fined $10. As a result, he lost his job with the Post Office because of “conduct unbecoming a postal worker.” The Society for Human Rights quickly disappeared.
It is not clear how he supported himself from that time until his death in 1972, although he was active in various gay rights activities.
The Henry Gerber House was named a Chicago Historic Landmark in 2001, and was then named a National Historic Landmark in 2015.
The next known gay men’s organization was the Mattachine Society, founded on November 11, 1950; the first national lesbian organization was the Daughters of Bilitis, founded on September 21, 1955.
The first lesbian and gay rights movement in the world originated in Berlin, Germany, in the 1860s. This included the invention of the word “homosexuality.” Read Robert Beachy, Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity (2014).
A short biography of Gerber and his activities is in: Vern Bullough, ed., Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context (2002)
Learn more about the Society for Human Rights at the Legacy Project here
And learn more about the Henry Gerber House in Chicago here
Read about the history of the GLBT revolution: Lillian Faderman, The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle (2015)
Learn more: Dudley Clendinen and Adam Nagourney, Out For Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America (1999)
Learn more about the history of lesbians and gays in Chicago: http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/509.html
Visit the GLBT History Museum in San Francisco: http://www.glbthistory.org/museum/