In 1919 – half a century before Stonewall – the first known film that was sympathetic to gay people was produced. Different from the Others (Anders als die Andern) is a German movie about a relationship between a master violinist and his student.
Paul Körner, the violinist, is approached by a young man named Kurt who begs Paul to be his teacher. He accepts and their relationship develops. Their families don’t understand their relationship, and Paul comes out to his parents by sending them to a doctor who explains that Paul is gay and it’s nothing to worry about. Homosexuality isn’t an illness, the doctor says, it’s just a normal variation of human sexuality.
This was 50 years before Stonewall. These ideas were revolutionary even during the brief social liberalization Germany experienced in the decade before the Great Depression, which is why public screenings of the film were banned a year after it was released.
By Alex Bollinger – Full Story at LGBTQ Nation