Lucien Sophie Albert Marie von Römer (23 August 1873 – 23 December 1965) was a Dutch physician, botanist and writer. He often wrote about

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

, and argued that it was an innate characteristic. He practiced medicine in the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

(later

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

) in his later life. His views parallel those of psychiatrist

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...

on this topic.

Netherlands

Lucien von Römer was born in 1873 in

Kampen, Overijssel Kampen () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Overijssel, Netherlands. A member of the former Hanseatic League, it is ...

, Netherlands in to a prominent military family of German heritage. He studied medicine at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

and the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

, and received his medical license in 1903. He went on to practice as a

neurologist Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system, which comprises the brain, the ...

. Von Römer was particularly interested in homosexuality, and worked in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

with the prominent

sexologist Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behaviors, and functions. The term ''sexology'' does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sexuality, such as social criticism. Sexologists app ...

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 Albert Moll. He was a regular contributor to Hirschfeld's journal, ''

Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen The Yearbook for Intermediate Sexual Types () was an annual publication of the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (, WhK), the world's first LGBT rights organization founded by German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld in 1897. The periodical featured a ...

'' (Journal for Sexual Transitions); his first article, a profile of

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Henry III of France Henry III (; ; ; 19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589) was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589, as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575. As the fourth son of King Henry II of France, he ...

, was published in 1902. In addition to homosexuality, Von Römer also wrote for the ''Jahrbuch'' about

androgyny Androgyny is the possession of both masculine and feminine characteristics. Androgyny may be expressed with regard to Sex, biological sex or gender expression. When ''androgyny'' refers to mixed biological sex characteristics in humans, it oft ...

hermaphroditism A hermaphrodite () is a sexually reproducing organism that produces both male and female gametes. Animal species in which individuals are either male or female are gonochoric, which is the opposite of hermaphroditic. The individuals of many ...

and the reception of Arnold Aletrino's works. In 1908, he published an anthology of

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...

's writings on homosexuality in Hirschfeld's ''Zeitschrift für Sexualwissenschaft''. In the same year, he submitted a postdoctoral dissertation that argued that homosexuality was innate, but it was rejected by the University of Amsterdam on the grounds that it was "in conflict with morality and offensive to others".

Dutch East Indies

Von Römer left the Netherlands and joined an expedition to

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

as a

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

in 1910. He discovered numerous plants on the expedition, some of which were named after him. He settled in the

in 1913, where he worked as a

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

specialist and a regional government physician. In 1921, he married Eugenie Gallois, a pianist, and had a son. After retiring, he continued to practice

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior. ...

Malang Malang (; , ), historically known as Tumapel, is an inland List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city in the Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province of East Java. It has a history dating back to the age of the Singhasari, Singhasari K ...

, where he died in 1965 at the age of 92.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roemer, Lucien von 1873 births 1965 deaths Dutch neurologists Dutch psychiatrists 20th-century Dutch botanists Dutch writers 20th-century Dutch writers Dutch LGBTQ rights activists LGBTQ history in the Netherlands People from Kampen, Overijssel Leiden University alumni University of Amsterdam alumni