In 1904, before there was a word for it in common usage, before any legal protections existed anywhere in the world, before even the most optimistic activist could have imagined Pride parades or marriage equality - a woman stood on a stage in Berlin and declared herself a homosexual.
Her name was Anna Rüling, and she was the world's first known out lesbian activist.
Rüling gave her speech to the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, Magnus Hirschfeld's pioneering organization, arguing that the women's rights movement and the homosexual rights movement needed each other. She made a political argument, a personal declaration, and a historical statement all at once - and then largely disappeared from the record, her contribution buried for most of a century.
This episode recovers her story. We talk about the world Anna Rüling lived in: Wilhelmine Germany, Paragraph 175, the early gay rights movement, and the context that made her declaration both extraordinary and, in some ways, possible. We talk about why she was forgotten, and why recovering the stories of early queer activists matters so much for understanding how long this fight has been going on.
She was out before your great-grandparents were born. That deserves to be known.
Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/rexTNpI21m0
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Website: https://thisweekinqueerhistory.com
