Sophus Thalbitzer (1871–1941) was a Danish psychiatrist and medical doctor specializing in manic depressive psychoses. He influenced Danish legislation on homosexuality towards decriminalization in 1933. Thalbitzer never married in his life.

Life

In 1912, Thalbitzer became consultant at the St Hans Women's Hospital near

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. In 1923, he became a member of the Advisory Board of Directors of the

Scientific-Humanitarian Committee The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (, WhK) was founded by Magnus Hirschfeld in Berlin in May 1897, to campaign for social recognition of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and against their legal persecution. It was the first L ...

. In 1924 and 1925 he published two articles on

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

, successfully influencing Danish criminal legislation with his 'scientific' defence of the lowering of homosexual age of consent from 21 to 18.

Works

* ''Emotion and insanity'', 1926. Translated by

M. G. Beard Marian Gertrude Beard, known to friends as 'Barbula' Beard (1885-1958) was an Irish-born educator and translator, headmistress of Putney High School and Crofton Grange School. Life Beard was educated at Alexandra College, gaining a first clas ...

. The International Library of Psychology, Philosophy and Scientific Method.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thalbitzer, Sophus 1871 births 1941 deaths Danish psychiatrists LGBT history in Denmark Sexual orientation and science Psychiatry writers on LGBT topics