GLR January-February 2026

ESSAY

Magnus Hirschfeld’s Moment V ERNON R OSARIO

M AGNUS HIRSCHFELD (1868–1935) has benefited from a surge of interest in the past two decades and is frequently mentioned in these pages. While Ger man historians have extensively studied his numerous publications, these have only become available in accurate English translations in this century thanks to the dedicated scholarship of Michael Lom bardi-Nash. Hirschfeld is probably the only fin-de-siècle Ger man sexologist scripted into an American TV show: In Transparent he appears in multiple flashbacks linking the title character (Jeffrey Tambor as Maura Pfefferman) to the Nazi persecution of Jews and sexual minorities. Hirschfeld was one of the most vocal proponents for progressive causes in the early 20th century—including women’s rights and the de criminalization of homosexuality. His activism and research led him to become one of the best-known sexologists of his time—so much so that the American press (with some degree of puffery) promoted him as “the Einstein of Sex” during a U.S. speaking tour in the 1930s. Three recent American books exploring Hirschfeld’s life and achievements present an array of assessments from underappreciated queer hero to utterly undeserving of queer sainthood. Hirschfeld was born in 1868 in Kolberg, Pomerania (now part of Poland), into a large, prosperous, secular Jewish family. His father was a liberal-minded and well-respected physician. After initially studying comparative linguistics in college, Mag nus transferred to medical school in 1889 and graduated in 1892 from his father’s alma mater in Berlin. He was a prolific writer and avid traveler. Before settling down to a medical practice in Berlin, he spent two years exploring Germany, France, Italy, Morocco, Algeria, and the United States, where an older brother had emigrated to pursue his own medical career. During these travels Hirschfeld studied the sexual cultures of the cities he visited, with a particular interest in their queer subculture and sex work. He subsequently published sexual ethnographies about Berlin at the turn of the century and about his final world tour through Asia and the Middle East. The unified German Empire of 1871 adopted a conserva tive Prussian penal code, including a male anti-sodomy law (“Paragraph 175”), an anti-abortion law, and the criminaliza tion of prostitution. These became the targets of multiple re form-minded, progressive women and men. Hirschfeld helped coalesce these interests in 1897 under the umbrella of the Sci entific-Humanitarian Committee ( Wissenschaftlich-human itäres Komitee) (SHC). The name was carefully chosen to downplay homosexuality and highlight the enlightened, sci Vernon Rosario, MD, PhD, is a historian of science and associate clin ical professor of psychiatry at UCLA.

entific aspect of universal human rights. The SHC would even tually find a home in the Institute for Sexual Science ( Institut für Sexualwissenschaft ) established by Hirschfeld in the cen ter of Berlin. The Institute housed a medical clinic, meeting rooms for progressive causes, residences for queer folks, and a sexology museum. He edited the Institute’s journal Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen unter besonderer Berücksichti gung der Homosexualität (“Yearbook of Sexual Intermediaries with Special Emphasis on Homosexuality”), published from 1899 to 1933. In 1921, in Berlin, he organized the First Inter national Congress for Sexual Reform on the Basis of Sexual Science, which formed the basis for the World League for Sex ual Reform. The League’s conferences drew progressive sci entists and scholars from around the globe who advocated for science-based, enlightened sexual rights. The League’s plat form included: the scientific understanding of intersexuality and homosexuality; the decriminalization of same-sex rela tions, prostitution, and birth control; equal rights for women and men; sex education; and eugenic birth selection (more on this later). Despite this lifetime of leadership on homosexual rights,

Magnus Hirschfeld in 1928.

January–February 2026

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