When Europe�s dominating outward movement began to falter, about 1900, an important result for Germany, and then later also for the rest of Europe, was that the population wasn�t able to increase as fast as it had before.
For Germany an important development was that emigration to America was cut back. Although the US, in fact, accepted many immigrants after that time, a �closing of the frontier� was proclaimed in the late 19th century. In that same period Germany tried entering the colonial game, but it was by then too late for that.
So Germany was hemmed in.
As a result opportunities were diminished. The ladder of success became more difficult to climb. If a person was born and educated, his or her prospects became more constricted.
And, about that time, homosexuality began to be an issue in Germany. The topic was studied by German scientists and written about in the German popular media in a way that is disturbingly like the way it was later studied and written about in the United States.
In Germany, the initial period for popular interest in homosexuality was perhaps 1900 to 1934, which isn�t to say that the subject was unknown before then. In the US a comparable period of popular discussion about homosexuality might be from 1980 to the time of this writing in 2007. In the US, of course, it was also true that the subject hadn�t been unknown before. A period in which there'd been quiet but extensive homosexual activity in the US preceded the AIDS epidemic of the �80s. Then the AIDS outbreak made homosexuality a matter of necessary discussion.
History repeats when the lessons of history aren�t learned. Was America repeating a German social experiment? The American film, Brokeback Mountain, came about one hundred years after the German story, Death in Venice. Although both artistic works had a similar non-judgmental tone, each provoked public reaction. That public reation took various forms and was sometimes heated.
In neither the German nor the American case, as far as I know, did anyone think to say that a reduced birth rate or constricted resources might have been a factor with respect to homosexuality becoming controversial. I don�t pretend to have all the answers about this, however, and there may be some ambiguity: while straitened circumstances and a reduced birth rate might tend to foster homosexuality, homosexual practices may themselves also tend to reduce the birth rate.
And I�m not saying that birth rate was or is the only factor. Although, US births had declined somewhat in the �30s, no American philosopher had yet declared that �God is Dead,� as a German philosopher had, and traditional values held up in the US until births increased again after World War II.
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