Imrich Matyáš (24 April 1896,
Bratislava
Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...
– 18 October 1974, Bratislava) was one of the earliest activist in
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
to fight for the equal rights of
sexual minorities
Sexual and gender minorities (SGM) comprise individuals whose sexual identity, sexual orientation, sexual behavior, or gender identity differ from the majority of the surrounding society. Sexual minorities include lesbians, gay men, bisexual peo ...
and the decriminalization of homosexuality.
He was a contributor to the first Czechoslovak queer periodical, ''Hlas sexuální menšiny'' ("Voice of the Sexual Minorities").
Early life
Imrich was born in Bratislava (then part of the
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...
and the
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...
) to a family with aristocratic roots. After serving as soldier in the Italian front of World War I, he began a lifelong career as a clerk at the Social Security and Retirement
Benefits Institute.
He started advocating for the rights of homosexuals from 1919.
Activism
Imrich's work as an advocate for homosexuality has been influenced by the writings of German sexologist
Magnus Hirschfeld
Magnus Hirschfeld (14 May 1868 – 14 May 1935) was a German physician, Sexology, sexologist and LGBTQ advocate, whose German citizenship was later revoked by the Nazi government.David A. Gerstner, ''Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer ...
and activist
Kurt Hiller
Kurt Hiller (17 August 1885, Berlin – 1 October 1972, Hamburg) was a German essayist, lawyer, and expressionist poet. He was also a political (namely pacifist) journalist.
Biography
Hiller came from a middle-class Jewish background. A com ...
. Along with them, he was a member of the
Scientific-Humanitarian Committee
The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (, WhK) was founded by Magnus Hirschfeld in Berlin in May 1897, to campaign for social recognition of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and against their legal persecution. It was the first L ...
and the
World League for Sexual Reform
The World League for Sexual Reform was a League for coordinating policy reforms related to greater openness around sex. The initial groundwork for the organisation, including a congress in Berlin which was later counted as the organisation's first ...
. To aid Bratislava's queer community, he authored a manual for gay people abound how to defend themselves in the criminal justice system.
After World War II, the new Czechoslovak government continued the criminalisation of homosexual acts and the new Penal Code of 1950 made it punishable to up to one year of imprisonment.
Imrich actively argued against the legislation and tried to convince officials about amending it.
Homosexuality was finally decriminalised in Czechoslovakia on 29 November 1961.
See also
*
LGBT history in the Czech Republic
References
External links
First Slovak LGBTI activist has fought for 40 years The Slovak Spectator
''The Slovak Spectator'' is an English-language newspaper/magazine published in Slovakia.
''The Slovak Spectator'' is published by The Rock, s.r.o. and was founded by four Americans: Rick Zednik, Richard Lewis, Eric Koomen and Daniel J. Stoll. ...
Imrich Matyáš – early activist who documented an entire era chapter in the online exhibition Loading: Love
Online exhibition about Imrich Matyáš
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matyas, Imrich
1896 births
1974 deaths
20th-century Slovak LGBTQ people
Czechoslovak LGBTQ people
Slovak LGBTQ rights activists