The dark legacy of Magnus Hirschfeld
by Fred Sargeant, spiked:
A fierce belief in eugenics and gender ideology haunts the legacy of this gay-rights pioneer.
For a long time since his death in 1935, German physician and ‘sexologist’ Magnus Hirschfeld has been a largely forgotten figure. But, in recent years, he has undergone a quite striking rehabilitation. He is now hailed as one of ‘the first great pioneers of the gay-liberation movement’ and, perhaps more pertinently, celebrated for his advocacy of ‘transgender rights’.
Much of the praise now heading Hirschfeld’s way rests on his campaigning work for the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (SHC, or Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee), which he co-founded in 1897, alongside Max Spohr, Adolf Brand, Benedict Friedläender, Eduard Oberg and Franz Joseph von Bülow. The SHC’s aim was to promote research on sexuality and, above all, challenge societal prejudice around homosexuality. It is now widely seen as the first modern gay-rights movement.
It’s often said that when it comes to icons of the LGBT movement we should only judge them by what we admire most about their careers. Anything else that they might have done wrong along the way should be ignored. But this approach is mistaken, especially in Hirschfeld’s case. For there is much that should trouble us about this complex man and his work.
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