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Glad to be Gay Behind the Wall: Gay and Lesbian Activism in 1970s
| Content Provider | CiteSeerX |
|---|---|
| Author | Germany, East Mclellan, Josie |
| Abstract | The Gartenstrasse swimming pool lay tucked away in a sleepy corner of East Berlin, fenced in on two sides by the Berlin Wall. Its sauna was a well-known meeting ground for gay men, who sweated underneath a magnificently homoerotic stained-glass window designed by the Expressionist Max Pechstein. In 1971, in this apt municipal space, eighteen-year-old Michael Eggert and twenty-one-year-old Peter Rausch began a friendship which would lead to the founding of Eastern Europe’s first gay liberation group. From 1973 to 1979, the HIB (Homosexuelle Interessengemeinschaft Berlin, or Homosexual Interest Group Berlin) organized regular meetings, discus-sions, parties, social events, made films and lobbied the authorities for the recognition of gay and lesbian rights. Its events were attended by up to 200 people, and it attracted the attention of numerous socialist authority figures, including the police and the Stasi. Yet despite these successes, the HIB is largely unknown.1 When discussed at all, it is as part of the pre-history of the more widespread gay and lesbian |
| File Format | |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
