This month, PPI celebrates Pride. Pride is about people embracing who they are and coming together to show how far gay rights have come. Although awareness and support for the community continue to grow, members still face discrimination and mental health struggles. During June, we want to educate and encourage you to learn more about how you can be a better ally to the LGBTQ community and support this celebration of acceptance and love.
First to be highlighted is Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, a gay rights activist, lawyer and writer. He was born in 1825, in Hanover, Germany.
His experiences with homosexuality started early on. As a child, he gravitated towards clothing that were deemed feminine by his culture. At 14, he was sexually abused by a riding instructor, something that would remain with him throughout his life.
When he began his career in law, he became aware of his identity and attraction to men. In 1857, his self-awareness led to his dismissal from his job as a legal adviser for the district court of Hildesheim. This led to him becoming more comfortable and vocal about his sexual orientation.
He told his family and friends that he was in his own words, an “Urning” – a term he coined to describe a gay man. In Ulrichs’ lifetime, he refused to use the word ‘homosexual’ when it was discovered. He resented that “sexual” was a part of the word at all and that it should be seen beyond sexual acts.
Ulrichs concluded that love between two men was natural, and something people were born with. His theory was that men were attracted to men being born with a “germ” that made them internally feminine. As he learned about different types of attraction between males and females, his theory expanded. This laid the groundwork for an argument of fair treatment among homosexual identities.
In August 1867, he became the first homosexual person to publicly speak in defense of homosexuality. Despite his multiple arrests, he addressed to Congress of German jurists to repeal anti-homosexual laws.
Although he fought German politics unsuccessfully for years, he reflected, “Until my dying day I will look back with pride that I found the courage to come face to face in battle against the specter which for time immemorial has been injecting poison into me and into men of my nature… I am proud, that I found the courage to deal with the initial blow to the hydra of public attempt.”
Urlichs died in 1895, but his revolutionary efforts helped push the gay rights movement into the spotlight.
Sources:
https://legacyprojectchicago.org/person/karl-ulrichs
https://www.makingqueerhistory.com/articles/2018/3/13/karl-hinreich-ulrichs