Hirschfeld, Magnus

Magnus Hirschfeld (1868–1935) was a pioneering sexologist, sexual rights activist, and clinician. A champion of the normalization of same-sex love, he established the first scientific and political advocacy coalitions to repeal anti-same-sex love legislation in Germany. The reach of his scientific research and advocacy was extensive, and his theories gained rapid influence and renown. His indefatigable efforts to depathologize same-sex love on the basis of its naturalness and innateness made him the target of brutal antisemitic attacks. He founded the first international sexual science institute. His theory of sexual intermediaries, which posits sexuality and gender expression on a continuum between absolute male and female, was a theoretical precursor to nonbinary gender identity.

[Page 388]Born in Kolberg, Germany, the site of present-day Kołobrzeg, Poland, into an Ashkenazi ...