France and Germany, two queer histories side by side

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One history, two rhythms. Germany invents the homosexual movement in the 19th century and sees it destroyed by the Nazis; France decriminalises early, but discriminates for a long time through the age of consent, before mobilising strongly in the face of AIDS. The landmarks below put the two countries side by side (an empty cell means we have no landmark to report, not that nothing happened). A summary of our page Queer history of Berlin and its links with France.

Year	France	Germany
1791	The revolutionary penal code no longer treats sodomy as a crime.
1871		Paragraph 175 punishes sexual acts between men throughout the Empire.
1896–1897		Adolf Brand publishes Der Eigene (1896); Magnus Hirschfeld founds the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee in Berlin (1897).
1919		Hirschfeld opens the Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin.
1920s		Berlin, capital of queer nightlife. In Schöneberg, the Dorian Gray (1921–1933) and other venues welcome lesbians.
1922		First demonstration for homosexual rights, at Nollendorfplatz.
1931		The film Mädchen in Uniform (Leontine Sagan) is released in Berlin.
1933–1935	Hirschfeld, in exile, dies in Nice (1935).	Closure of the Institute (1933), Paragraph 175 toughened (1935), persecution and deportations.
1936	The Chez Moune cabaret opens in Pigalle.
1942–1945	Under Vichy, a higher age of consent for homosexual relationships is introduced (1942); it is kept at the Liberation (1945).
1954	André Baudry founds Arcadie, the first homosexual group in France.
1968–1969		Decriminalisation in the GDR (1968), then in the FRG (1969).
1971	The FHAR is born in Paris (Guy Hocquenghem, Françoise d’Eaubonne).	The Homosexuelle Aktion Westberlin is born, after Rosa von Praunheim's film.
1977	25 June: first Paris march, about 400 people.	Opening of SchwuZ, Berlin's first alternative gay club.
1978–1979	Gai Pied is created by Jean Le Bitoux (1979).	The Eisenherz bookshop opens (1978); first Christopher Street Day in Berlin (1979).
1981	4 April: march from Maubert to Beaubourg, more than 10,000 people.
1982	4 August: the law removes the article that discriminated against homosexual relationships.
1984–1985		The magazine Siegessäule is born (1984); the Schwules Museum opens (1985).
1989	24 June: first "die-in" of the march, by Act Up-Paris.
1993		First edition of the Lesbisch-schwules Stadtfest, around Motzstraße.
1994		Paragraph 175 is removed from German law.
1996	22 June: first march of more than 100,000 people.	Siegessäule opens up to lesbians and trans people.
1998–1999	The PACS is adopted in October 1998; the first ones are signed in December 1999.
2001	The name "Marche des Fiertés" takes hold.	Registered partnership ("Lebenspartnerschaft").
2004	Noël Mamère celebrates the first marriage between two men in Bègles.
2008		Memorial to homosexuals persecuted under Nazism, in the Tiergarten.
2013	Marriage and adoption are opened to all couples (law published in May 2013).
2017		Same-sex marriage becomes possible in Germany.

What stands out

Germany invents the movement, then sees it destroyed. It is born in Berlin in 1897, the Nazi dictatorship crushes it, and Paragraph 175 stays in force until 1994.
France decriminalised early, but discriminated for a long time. From 1942 to 1982, a higher age of consent set homosexual relationships apart.
AIDS shapes French activism (Act Up-Paris, 1989), while Berlin builds its community venues (SchwuZ, Eisenherz, Schwules Museum).
Marriage: 2013 in France, 2017 in Germany. The Pride (Paris) and the Christopher Street Day (Berlin) have answered each other since 1977 and 1979.

Sources

Droits des LGBT+ : 40 ans de luttes (Fondation Jean-Jaurès) for the French dates from 1977 to 2004.
A short history of LGBT Berlin (The Berliner) for the German dates.
Queer places in Berlin (Visit Berlin) and Schöneberg in the Weimar Republic (place2be).
English Wikipedia pages "LGBT history in France" and "FHAR", through an archived copy (1942, 1945, 1954, FHAR).

A date is missing or needs correcting? Write to us.