12/14/24

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

This week’s answer: The Society for Human Rights. The founder was Henry Gerber, a German immigrant and postal worker. He immigrated to the U.S. with his family at 13. After time in the U.S. Army and being stationed back in Germany, Gerber became motivated by the German gay rights movement of the early 20th century. He and his friends in Chicago incorporated the nonprofit Society for Human Rights in 1924. The group published a newsletter, Friendship and Freedom. The group was short-lived but inspired the creation of future LGBTQ+ rights groups in the U.S. including the Mattachine Society.