Christopher Treiblmayr:
Die Österreichische Liga für Menschenrechte und ihre Stellungnahmen zu Homosexualität.
Christopher Treiblmayr:
The Austrian League for Human Rights and its Stance on Homosexuality
A workshop Report
English abstract
Founded in 1926, the League for Human Rights is Austria’s oldest human rights organization. Disbanded in 1938 after the "Anschluss" of Austria into the Third Reich, it resumed its work towards comprehensive human rights protections immediately after World War II. The League’s commitment to homosexual rights is one of its most controversial fields of activity. From the late 1940s into the 1970s, and to some extent even later, it acted as a kind of substitute for Austria’s nonexistent homosexual movement, although it still saw itself as "state supportive" and – as an association anchored in the country’s political elite – certainly not as a homosexual organization. The League’s attention to this sociopolitically contentious field was based on its work in sexual reforms, a line of tradition stretching back to Austria’s First Republic. This article traces early activities in this field, both in the 1930s and in the postwar period up to the early 1950s, as key phases for the League’s later positioning during Austria’s Second Republic.