From the late 19th century until 1933, the first homosexual movement
unsuccessfully sought the repeal of Paragraph 175, a German law criminalizing sex between men. In 1897, Magnus Hirschfeld founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee—the world's first homosexual rights organization—to achieve this goal through science. The movement greatly expanded after World War I and the German revolution, when the first mass-market periodicals for gay people were published. The German Friendship Society and the League for Human Rights, founded after the war, emphasized human rights and respectability politics. In 1929, the German parliament considered but ultimately did not vote on a proposal to decriminalize homosexuality. The movement waned after failing to achieve its objectives, and was shut down after the Nazi takeover in early 1933. The first homosexual movement has inspired and influenced later LGBT movements.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_homosexual_movement
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1868:
Ōdate, the last castle of the Satake clan in Japan's Tōhoku region, was captured during the Boshin War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satake_clan
1878:
The state funeral of Mindon Min, who ruled Burma for 25 years, was held. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_and_funeral_of_Mindon_Min
1914:
Japan captured Pohnpei from Germany, eventually leading to large-scale Japanese immigration to Micronesia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Micronesians
2006:
Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist and human-rights activist, was assassinated in the elevator of her apartment block in Moscow. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Anna_Politkovskaya
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
man-of-war: 1. (military, archaic except humorous) A man whose occupation is fighting in wars; a soldier, a warrior. 2. (military, nautical, chiefly historical) A powerful armed naval vessel, primarily one armed with cannon and propelled by sails; a warship. 3. (obsolete, rare) In full man-of-war's-man: a sailor serving on board an armed naval vessel. 4. Senses relating to animals. 5. Short for man-of-war bird or (obsolete) man-of-war hawk: any of a number of seabirds, especially one which attacks other seabirds to take their food. 6. (specifically, archaic) A frigatebird (family Fregatidae), especially the magnificent frigatebird (Fregata magnificens). 7. (specifically, US) The Arctic skua (Stercorarius parasiticus). 8. Short for Portuguese man-of-war (“Physalia physalis, a jellyfish-like marine cnidarian consisting of a floating colony of hydrozoans attached to a float”) https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/man-of-war
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
We respect Ukrainians' desire to see their country free, safe and prosperous. I am confident that true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia. Our spiritual, human and civilizational ties formed for centuries and have their origins in the same sources, they have been hardened by common trials, achievements and victories. Our kinship has been transmitted from generation to generation. It is in the hearts and the memory of people living in modern Russia and Ukraine, in the blood ties that unite millions of our families. Together we have always been and will be many times stronger and more successful. For we are one people. Today, these words may be perceived by some people with hostility. They can be interpreted in many possible ways. Yet, many people will hear me. And I will say one thing — Russia has never been and will never be "anti-Ukraine". And what Ukraine will be — it is up to its citizens to decide. --Vladimir Putin https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin