This essay provides one of the few close readings of Karl Maria Kertbeny\u2019s open letter of 1869, in which he for the first time in any language combines the prefix \u201chomo-\u201c with the root \u201csex\u201d in order to create a word describing a person who is sexually attracted to a member of the same sex. The essay seeks to clarify misunderstandings about the birth of the word \u201chomosexual\u201d (Kertbeny was not a physician for instance, nor was his goal in this letter to establish a medical vocabulary around same-sex desire). The essay suggests that Kertbeny\u2019s interest in Hungarian nationalism and Hungarian identity might help explain his thinking on homosexual identity.<\/p>\n
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\u201cKertbeny\u2019s \u2018Homosexuality\u2019 and the Language of Nationalism,\u201d in\u00a0 Genealogies of Identity: Interdisciplinary Readings on Sex and Sexuality<\/span>, ed. by Margaret S\u00f6nser Breen and Fiona Peters (New York and Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2005) 3-18.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This essay provides one of the few close readings of Karl Maria Kertbeny\u2019s open letter of 1869, in which he for the first time in any language combines the prefix \u201chomo-\u201c with the root \u201csex\u201d in order to create a …<\/p>\n