GLR July-August 2025

the longstanding and infamous anti-sodomy law, it would have criminalized male prostitution and set a very high age of consent (21) for male-to-male sexual behavior. In addition, there were several social groups that various queer circles barred from their ranks and gathering places, including sex workers, the jobless, and “fairies” (flamboyant, usually cisgender men who dressed and behaved in a gender nonconforming manner). Most of the time, this was a strategic ploy to win the support of the hetero normative majority, though at the cost of solidarity. This was contested already in the Weimar era and became a frequent source of conflict among the various queer groups. 8. R AUCHFANGSWERDER WAS ( ALSO ) ARIOT . The Stonewall Rebellion of 1969 has gone down in history as the first time that LGBT people actively stood up to police ha rassment. However, earlier incidents of resistance stretch back at least as far as the Weimar era. On July 5, 1930, members of a Berlin-based queer organization clashed in a brawl with a local police sports club whose members were engaging in provocative behavior and harassment of the queer participants. This happened in front of an inn that the two groups happened to visit at the same time, on the Rauchfangswerder peninsula in southeast Berlin. Hence, I refer to it as the Rauchfangswerder incident. Just as at the Stonewall Inn, there were transgender people on hand, including Gerda von Zobeltitz, a dressmaker of noble birth whose adoption of stylish feminine garb led to headline-making arrests. While challenging the assumption that Stonewall was the first act of violent resistance, this example

also reframes the conversation around queer historical narra tives, encouraging us to see developments in queer history not as isolated events but as part of a process. The Rauch fangswerder incident might seem to have been an isolated oc currence, but, like Stonewall, it was indicative of a wider trend—of a growing self-confidence and sense of agency, itself the result of years of political work and campaigning by queer organizations. 9.A GENCY , NOT VICTIMHOOD . While LGBT people have clearly been victimized by oppres sive regimes, they have often tempered their victimhood with resilience, developing strategies with which to resist the disci plining power of the state and society, as they did in both Wil helmine and Weimar Germany. Like other oppressed minorities, they would flee their personal circumstances and move to places that were more congenial to their lifestyle. In court trials, de fendants accused of engaging in sodomy would fabricate their testimony and insist that only behaviors that were not punish able had taken place. Cross-dressing defendants charged with being a public nuisance defied the law by appearing in court in the apparel of their choice. Their resistance led to the introduc tion of the so-called “trans-certificates” (one of which Gerda von Zobeltitz obtained) in some cities, which allowed them to roam the streets without fear of arrest. These certificates were still in use until the 1960s. Many people facing trial sought aid from queer organizations, which were sometimes successful in securing a positive or more favorable outcome.

QueerLens A History of Photography Edited by Paul Martineau and Ryan Linkof, with contributions by Jordan Bear, Ken Gonzales Day, Alexis Bard Johnson, Derek Conrad Murray, and Catherine Opie Featuring lively essays and copious illustrations, this book explores the transformative role of photography in LGBTQ+ communities from the nineteenth century to the present day.

© 2025 J. Paul Getty Trust

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July–August 2025

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