Forgotten origins of the modern gay rights movement in WWI.

German infantrymen aim machine guns from a trench near the Vistula River in 1916 (Image: AP-PHOTO)

Gay soldiers who survived the bloodletting returned home convinced their governments owed them something – full citizenship. Especially in Germany, where gay rights already had a tenuous footing, they formed new organizations to advocate in public for their rights.

Though the movement that called itself…