NOTE: I have linked the wikipedia pages (it should be spelt “wikipaedia”) for quickness and convenience (as they offer an all-round perspective) – not because I agree with the pro-US, anti-intellectual style of this monstrosity. Use these pages as a jump-off point, check all the facts, and do your own research.
Magnus Hirschfeld (14.5.1868-14.5.1935) was a German (Jewish) physician, sexologist, and one of the pioneers in promoting homosexuality and gender identity. It is commonly believed to have founded the world’s first (contemporary) LGBTQ organization in the world – together with like-minded experts such as Max Spohr, Eduard Obrerg and Franz Josef von Bulow. The organization was named the “Scientific and Humanitarian Committee” (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee) and was inaugurated on May 15th, 1897 in Berlin. (Hirschfeld apparently died of a heart attack on his 67th birthday whilst exiled in France). This was under the time of the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II (r. 1888-1918) – Kaiser Wilhelm II was exiled to Holland after his abdication in 1918 – where he died in 1941. After the Nazis invaded that country in 1940 – he was treated with great respect by the German soldiers. Between 1918-1919, some returning German soldiers and civilians attempted limited Socialist Revolutions (in solidarity with the Russian Revolution) – but the bulk of the returning soldiers supported far-right oppositon (including Adolf Hitler) and destroyed these left-wing movements (with the support of the conquering West).
Hirschfeld established his LGBTQ organisation well before the Western-imposed “Weimar Republic” (1919-1933) – the era the far-right falsely claim gave birth to the LGBTQ movement. Although Hirschfeld travelled the world (but not the USSR) – he coined the idea that homosexuality, bisexuality, trans-identity, and queerness were universal manifestations and existed just as much within Asian cultures (Japan and China) as it did within the West (Europe and the US). He assumed this was a biological imperative (in other words – it is “innate”) and had little to do with environment. The implication of Hirschfeld’s theory is that LGBTQ attitude and lifestyles are “genetic” (individuals are born already with these attitudes and identities) and that the environment they are born into (the prevailing existential culture) either supports, opposes, or remains indifferent to these expressions.Hirschfeld advocated that the LGBTQ “gene” (if proven to exist) is the product of human evolution and is designed to assist in the limiting of the numbers in the human population – as generally speaking – LGBTQ are not able to naturally reproduce (outside of adaption or special biological arrangements). Whether or not the Hong Kong-born (British Subject) – Li Shiu Tong (李兆堂) [1907-1996] – was his lover is open to debate – but the weight of evidence does seem to suggest that he was (either Li’s Chinese family understood he was gay and approved of it – or they did not fully comprehend what was happening – and mistook his travelling abroad as being the product of his clever and successful scholarship). Hirschfeld was around 49-years his senior. I will attempt to look-up a reliable Chinese-language biography of Li and translate it for this blog. After the death of Hirschfeld – Li tended to drift toward the idea that LGBTQ identities are partly genetic and partly environmental. Li studied medicine in Shanghai – but never finished his degree – and even studied at Harvard, again without completely his degree. He was obviously very intelligent and managed to leave China and hold his own in the West. Li died in Canada aged 86 – with his younger brother dealing with his affairs. Reports suggest most of his Western property (much of it inherited from Hirschfeld – was thrown into a public skip. Indeed, a passerby is said to have rescued some of it – including the text-books, notes, and even the death-mask of Hirschfeld.
