The first gay rights organization was started in Illinois and operated out of a house in Chicago. This little-known history of the country and fight for human rights is a Praire State legend. Keep reading to learn all about it.

In 1924, the state of Illinois approved Bavarian immigrant Henry Gerber to form the Society of Human Rights, which was the first gay rights organization in the United States.
Wikimedia Commons/Elisa.rolle
It was operated out of this home in Chicago, which is known as the Henry Gerber House. Gerber was a soldier in Germany from 1920 to 1923 where he experienced a much more open and inclusive culture for homosexual men than he found back in the United States.
Wikimedia Commons/Victor Grigas
The first gay rights organization in the world was the Magnus Hirschfeld’s Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, and Gerber adopted many of its principles in order to protect the interests of the gay community in Chicago.
Wikimedia Commons/Thshriver

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Gerber was employed at the U.S. Postal service at the time that he started the organization, which allowed him to get newspapers and other information out through the mail without anyone detecting who it was from.
Wikimedia Commons/ep_jhu
One of the publications was a newsletter known as Friendship and Freedom which was aimed at attaining more members, especially medical professionals. One member's wife disapproved of the publication and alerted authorities.
Wikipedia/Ludovic Bertron
Gerber was arrested and his operation was deemed a sex cult though he was never charged with a crime. He was fired from his job and eventually left Chicago for New York where he continued writing about the importance of movements for human and gay rights.
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Although the organization was far ahead of its time, it inspired many LGBTQ rights organizations that came afterward.
Wikimedia Commons/André Lage Freitas

What else do you know about this gay rights organization? Share your thoughts with us below in the comments.

For more like this, check out these nine moments that everyone born in Illinois will remember.

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