The
Society for Human Rights was an American
LGBT Rights organization established in
Chicago in 1924. Society founder
Henry Gerber was inspired to create it by German Doctor
Magnus Hirschfeld and his work with the
Scientific-Humanitarian Committee. It was the first recognized
gay rights organization in the
United States, having received a charter from the state of
Illinois, and produced the first American publication for homosexuals,
Friendship and Freedom. A few months after being chartered, the group ceased to exist in the wake of the arrest of several of the Society's members. Despite its short existence and small size, the Society has been recognized as a precursor to the modern
gay liberation movement.