THE INTERMEDIARIES

The riveting stories of LGBTQ pioneers, a surprising, long- suppressed history that offers a cautionary tale in the face of today's oppressive anti-trans legislation.

The first gender affirmation surgeries took place in interwar Berlin, at a facility that employed transgender staff, and which was headed by a gay Jewish man, the fascinating Dr. Magnus Hirshfeld. The Institute for Sexual Science became both center of the homosexual and trans community -and base of operations for the first LGBTQ rights movement of the 20th century. The Institute and its colorful, courageous supporters came within surprising reach of overturning anti-homosexuality laws. But the progressive ideas espoused by the Institute, (women's rights, the lifting of abortion bans, sex education and birth control) could only be possible because of scientific breakthroughs in endocrinology. A new understanding of hormones overturned long-held beliefs about the "moral empire" of mind in favor of chemical communication of the body just as the democratic Weimar Republic came to power. This science of sex offered the basis for declaring sexual and gender nonconformists -the intermediaries- as natural rather than pathological. The Institute would fall in 1933 to Nazi forces, but the most important documents would be smuggled out ahead of the Gestapo raids - and have profound effect on the future. Brandy Schillace is a historian of medicine and the author, most recently, of Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher (S&S). She is a frequent contributor to Medium, and her work appears in Wired, The Wall Street Journal, The Globe and Mail and Scientific American. Dr. Schillace is the editor of the BMJ Journal Medical Humanities and host of the Peculiar Bookclub. Author website: https://brandyschillace.com.