PHOTO: Berlin university students carrying away the library from the home of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935) on May 6, 1933 for a May 10-11 Nazi book burning, (New York Herald Tribune, May 17, 1933). See previous posts OSU Foundation Magnus Hirschfeld Fund Agreement (1/4/12), Magnus Hirschfeld Book notes 37 to 39 - final post (11/2/10) and "PBS features gay Nazi Joseph Goebbels" (5/29/2006) where I mentioned the May 11, 1933 Nazi book burning and May 6, 1933 plundering of the sex research institute of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935) - biography at www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology .
PHOTO: the research journal ONE was ahead of its time when in 1953 it mentioned the idea of "homosexual marriage" long before "gay marriage" or same-sex marriage had become the a cause of a few gay liberationists, such as Jack Baker. The former Oregon State University Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture W. Dorr Legg was one of the major contributors to the ONE homophile magazine and he was also a Christian conservative who probably saw gay marriage as being a conservative value whereas others didn't want gays obligated to get married like straight people were traditionally expected to do. (See James T. Sears, PhD, "1953: When ONE Magazine, Headlined 'Homosexual Marriage,'" GayToday.com posted Aug. 11, 2003 and my previous posts Gay marriage pioneer Jack Baker starts blog (confirmed) (4/4/12), OSU W. Dorr Legg homosexual marriage 1953 vs. CA Prop 8 2010 (8/22/10), Oregon same-sex marriage vote and Pope resigns hits front page (2/21/13) and Thomas Kraemer, "Corvallis, Oregon State University gay activism 1969-2004," outhistory.org posted April 30, 2010 for my history of OSU.
I saw the Republican Party's favorite female advocate, Carly Fiorina, on a weekend TV political roundtable responding to the idea of gay marriage with an insidious illogic that motivated me to respond by sending the following letter to my local newspaper that is located in the town where both Oregon State University and a large division of Hewlett-Packard are located:
The former Oregon State University Professor W. Dorr Legg (1904-1994) was a Christian Republican and academic researcher of homosexuality. In 1953, Legg's research journal published an essay discussing his conservative's case for "homosexual marriage."
Conservative GOP Senator Rob Portman recently made Legg's case for gay marriage after finding out his son is gay.
Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett-Packard CEO and Republican Party star, reacted by repeating the Republican platitude of "let voters decide," not the courts, if marriage equality is a constitutional right. Would Fiorina in the 1950's have similarly wanted voters to decide women's equal rights, which have facilitated her success?
To encourage more research in these areas, I founded the multi-million dollar charitable OSU Foundation Magnus Hirschfeld Fund to honor the gay German doctor whose research books were literally burned by the Nazis.
(Quoted from Thomas Kraemer, "Change in personal situation can reverse anti-gay stance," Gazette-Times, Mar. 22, 2013, p. A9)
Other gay bloggers saw the same hypocrisy in Fiorina's words that I did:
- John Aravosis, "Every time a judge frees a black man or a gay, Carly Fiorina kills a kitten," americablog.com posted Mar. 17, 2013
- Michelangelo Signorile, "The 58 Percent: Rob Portman, Hillary Clinton and the Future of Marriage Equality," huffingtonpost.com posted Mar. 19, 2013
- Jim Burroway, "The Thirty-Six Percent," Box Turtle Bulletin posted Mar. 19, 2013 includes a link to a ABC/Washington Post poll that shows that support for marriage equality has hit an all-time high with analysis byGary Langer, "Poll Tracks Dramatic Rise In Support for Gay Marriage," ABC News polls released March 18, 2013at abcnews.com/pollingunit (PDF).
