The Petitions to
the German
Parliament:
Herr Bebel's Plea
in 1894.
In 1897—as in 1902 and 1904—in the German Parliament, a great Petition signed by many hundred names of high distinction in German medico-psychichiatries and jurisprudence, science, letters and arts, with other professions, was formally presented; asking the repeal of "Paragraph 175." A careful speech was made by Representative Bebel; and lively debate ensued. In referring to the Petition, Herr Bebel said: "The number of these persons (homosexuals) is so. great, and it joins itself so vigorously to all classes of society, from the lowest to the highest, that if here in Berlin our police did their full duty, according to law, the Government would be forced to build two new penal establishments, merely on account of offences against "Paragraph 175." This is no exaggeration. The business however goes further. We must consider whether this Paragraph does not extend to women, as well as to men, when women commit the same sort of offence. What is right in case of one sex, is right in case of the other.. I tell you again, gentlemen, that if the Berlin police did their duty, why, there would come up such a scandal as never has been known in the world; a scandal in comparison with which the Panama Scandal, the Dreyfus Scandal, the Lutzow-Lectert Scandal, the Taus-Normann Scandal, all would seem mere child's play."
The reference is just'on the speaker's part, to the fact that by the Paragraph ought to be punished female similisexualism. The law does not base any argument that women should be allowed legally to gratify uraniad appetites. Uraniads are continually known to offend so, are discovered so doing, but without any legal penalty affecting them. This is of course, an old statutory inconsistency.[1]
- ↑ A special attestation of this curious aspect occurred in a very recent libel suit—mentioned on a later page—in Berlin, originating in a scandal in a women's club.
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