Paragraph 175 (known formally as §175 StGB) was a provision of the German Criminal Code from May 15, 1871 to March 10, 1994, which made male homosexuality a crime. The statute was amended numerous times. Nazi Germany greatly exacerbated its severity in 1935. East Germany reverted to the old version of the law in 1950, limited its effect to sex with youths under 18 in 1968, and abolished it entirely in 1988. West Germany retained the Nazi-era statute until 1969, when it was limited to "qualified cases"; it was further attenuated in 1973 and finally revoked entirely after German reunification in 1994. In some of its forms, the law also addressed bestiality.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paragraph_175

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1851: First YMCA in North America established in Montreal, Quebec (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YMCA)

1888: Herman Hollerith installed his computing device at the United States War Department (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Hollerith)

1987: First Intifada began in the Gaza Strip and West Bank (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Intifada)

1990: Lech Wałęsa became the first directly elected president of Poland. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lech_Walesa)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one; I hope some day you'll join us, and the world will live as one." -- John Lennon (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Lennon)