Karl Heinrich Ulrichs was born on August 28, 1825, in Aurich, Germany. In 1862, he came out to his family as an “Urning,” a term he coined to describe men who were attracted to men. He went on to write several pamphlets defending same-sex love, which were controversial and frequently banned. He also spoke in public advocating for decriminalization of sex between men and in these speeches became one of the first people to discuss men who were attracted to men as an oppressed class. Additionally, Ulrichs published one of the first gay periodicals and formulated the first known plan for an organization of gay men. His influence was wide-ranging—the writer Karl-Maria Kertbeny coined the term "homosexual" in a letter to Ulrichs, and he corresponded with influential sexologists Richard von Krafft-Ebing and Havelock Ellis. However, his home country of Germany continued to pass legislation against sodomy, leading him to move to Italy. He died there on July 14, 1895. You can learn more about Ulrichs here: Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825-1895) and the United States, by Jonathan Ned Katz.