MAGNUS HIRSCHFELD, a German sex researcher, founded the first known organization for homosexuals in Germany in 1897. Called the Scientific Humanitarian Committee, the group fought until the early 1930s to strike down antigay laws and to educate people about homosexuality. Gays in Germany had nearly achieved legal equality when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power.

As part of their campaign to rid German society of its "inferior" elements, the Nazis arrested all the homosexuals they could find and sent them to concentration camps. Gays were forced to wear armbands bearing a pink triangle, just as Jews were forced to wear a yellow Star of David. An untold number of gays were murdered in the death camps. Hitler put an end to the fight for gay rights in Germany, and the...