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Karl-Heinrich Ulrichs (born 28 August 1825 in Aurich, died in L'Aquila, 14 July 1895), is seen today as the pioneer of modern LGBT rights movement. Ulrichs was born in Aurich, then part of the Kingdom of Hanover, in north-western Germany. Ulrichs recalled that as a young child he wore girls' clothes, preferred playing with girls, and wanted to be a girl. His first homosexual experience was in 1839 at the age of fourteen, in the course of a brief affair with his riding instructor. He graduated in law and theology from Göttingen University in 1846. From 1846 to 1848, he studied history at Berlin University, writing a dissertation in Latin on the Peace of Westphalia.
From 1849 to 1857 Ulrichs worked as an official legal adviser for the district court of Hildesheim in the Kingdom of Hanover. He was dismissed when his homosexuality became open knowledge.
( Campaigner for sexual reform )
In 1879, Ulrichs published the twelfth and final book of his Research on the Riddle of Man-Manly Love. In poor health, and feeling he had done all he could in Germany, he went into self-imposed exile in Italy. For several years he travelled around the country before settling in L'Aquila, where his health improved.
He continued to write prolifically and publish his works (in German and Latin) at his own expense. In 1895, he received an honorary diploma from the University of Naples. Shortly after he died in L'Aquila. His grave stone is marked (in Latin), "Exile and Pauper." "Pauper" may have been bit of romantic licence. Ulrichs lived in L'Aquila as the guest of a local landowner, Marquis Niccolò Persichetti, who gave the eulogy at his funeral. At the end of his eulogy, he said:
But with your loss, oh Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, the fame of your works and your virtue will not likewise disappear... but rather, as long as intelligence, virtue, learning, insight, poetry and science are cultivated on this earth and survive the weakness of our bodies, as long as the noble prominence of genius and knowledge are rewarded, we and those who come after us will shed tears and scatter flowers on your venerated grave.Late in life Ulrichs wrote:
Until my dying day I will look back with pride that I found the courage to come face to face in battle against the spectre which for time immemorial has been injecting poison into me and into men of my nature. Many have been driven to suicide because all their happiness in life was tainted. Indeed, I am proud that I found the courage to deal the initial blow to the hydra of public contempt.Forgotten for many years, Ulrichs is now becoming something of a cult figure in Europe. There are streets named for him in Munich, Bremen and Hanover. His birthday is marked each year by a lively street party and poetry reading at Karl-Heinrich-Ulrichs-Platz in Munich. The city of L'Aquila has restored his grave and hosts the annual pilgrimage to the cemetery. Later gay rights advocates were aware of their debt to Ulrichs. Magnus Hirschfeld thoroughly referenced Ulrichs in his The Homosexuality of Men and Women (1914).
The International Lesbian and Gay Law Association presents an annual Karl Heinrich Ulrichs Award in Ulrichs' memory.
( Araxes )
Ulrichs penned the first gay vampire story, entitled "Manor" in his book Matrosengeschichten (Sailor Stories).
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Heinrich_Ulrichs
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs: Pioneer of the Modern Gay Movement by Hubert Kennedy Paperback: 308 pages
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing; 2 edition (May 2, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1419606980
ISBN-13: 978-1419606984
Amazon: Karl Heinrich Ulrichs: Pioneer of the Modern Gay Movement
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs was the first gay man to speak out openly for the equal rights of all homosexuals. This happened in Munich at a Congress of German Jurists on 29 August 1867—before the word “homosexual” was invented. In this and in many other ways he was a real pioneer of the modern gay movement. Hubert Kennedy’s carefully researched and documented biography reveals the life of this courageous and exemplary man. Since the publication of the prizewinning first edition in 1988, other scholars have also been interested in Ulrichs. The results of their researches are taken into account in this second edition, which is 16% larger than the original edition.
The Riddle of "Man-Manly" Love: The Pioneering Work on Male Homosexuality by Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, translated by Michael A. Lombardi-Nash Hardcover: 712 pages
Publisher: Prometheus Books (February 1994)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 087975866X
ISBN-13: 978-0879758660
Amazon: The Riddle of "Man-Manly" Love: The Pioneering Work on Male Homosexuality
A century before Stonewall and the rise of the modern gay and lesbian movement, Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825-1895), lawyer, classical scholar, and openly gay man, was boldly and publicly defending the rights of homosexuals. Between 1864 and 1880, he published a series of twelve tracts, which he collectively titled "Research on the Riddle of Man-Manly Love". Much more than a seminal work on the causes of homosexuality, Ulrich's monumental study deeply influenced an entire generation of sex researchers, including Richard von Kraft-Ebing and Havelock Ellis. Now, for the first time, this pioneering work by an important researcher in gay studies is available in English in its entirety, newly translated by Michael A. Lombardi-Nash. Ulrichs surveys literary, historical, physiological, and other data in his argument that homosexuality is not a disease or a sin, but perfectly natural, and that the strict line of differentiation between men and women has been overemphasised. Turning to the science of embryology, Ulrichs contends that male, as well as female, homosexuality results from a crossing of the male and female generative principles during the first crucial stages of foetal development. Thus, homosexual men are essentially 'male' in body, 'female' in desire - crucially different from heterosexual men. Homosexuality (and, with that hermaphroditism and bisexuality) is the work of nature, hence innate and unavoidable.
Date: Saturday, July 16 
Women on the Edge of Space edited by Danielle Bodnar 
Date: Saturday, July 16 
Women on the Edge of Space edited by Danielle Bodnar