German Museum Launches Show on 150 Years of Gay History

BERLIN -- Germany's main national history museum is launching an exhibition tracing 150 years of gay history, including the first uses of the term "homosexual" and the brutal Nazi-era repression of gays.

The exhibition at the German Historical Museum in Berlin, which is staging it together with the capital's Gay Museum, has been four years in the planning but opens amid a new debate in Germany over whether to allow full-fledged marriage for gay couples.

Culture Minister Monika Gruetters said at the show's presentation Wednesday that it "puts the current debate about legal equality into a historical context." She said it shows "how hard-fought the progress we can speak of today was."

The exhibition, "Homosexuality-ies," opens to the public Friday and runs through Dec. 1.