100 years ago, a Chicagoan founded the first U.S. gay rights group

Driving the news: The Chicago History Museum and the Gerber/Hart Library and Archives are hosting "100 Years of LGBTQIA+ Rights: Henry Gerber and the Society for Human Rights" at 6pm Tuesday at the museum.

Flashback: Gerber started the Society for Human Rights (SHR) after experiencing the German homosexual emancipation movement while stationed there for the U.S. Army.

• SHR created the first American publication for homosexuals, called "Friendship and Freedom."
• In 1925, Gerber and members of the group were arrested on "obscenity" charges, according to the Legacy Project.

Lasting legacy: Gerber's home in Old Town is designated a national historic landmark, and the Gerber/Hart Library and Archives in Rogers Park houses a lending library, research institute and archive of LGBTQ+ history in Chicago and the Midwest.

What they're saying: "[Gerber] and his fellow SHR members laid the groundwork for more official recognition of sexual and gender minorities later in history and that all started here in Chicago," Greg Storms from the Chicago History Museum tells Axios.

• "Unfortunately, this history — like a lot of pre-Stonewall activism — has been forgotten by the general public and our goal is to help raise awareness about the long history the fight for queer rights has in our nation and worldwide."