The forgotten origins of the modern gay rights movement in WWI

By Laurie Marhoefer, Assistant Professor of History, University of Washington. German infantrymen aim machine guns from a trench near the Vistula River in 1916. AP-Photo One of the World War I’s most enduring legacies is largely forgotten: It sparked the modern gay rights movement. Gay soldiers who survived the bloodletting returned home convinced their governments owed…