Author
and (co-)editor of more than 60 sexological publications, including
nine books (two in English: Bisexualities. The Ideology and Practice of
Sexual Contact with Both Men and Women. New York: Continuum Publishing
Co. 1998, 270 pp., ed. with E. J. Haeberle, and Sexology as a
Profession: Max Weber Revisited. Problems in a Sexologically
Underdevelopped Country. Miami: Maimonides University Press 2007, 169
pp.) and two book series  Publications.
National sexological functions
and honors a. o.: Founder (1971), President (until 1979), thereafter
Honorary President of the German Society for the Advancement of Social
Scientific Sexuality Research (GFSS); 1982 Founder and till 2004 Vice
President, thereafter Honorary President of the German Society for
Social Scientific Sexuality Research DGSS (named before 1982: GFSS). Founder (1978), since then Director of the GFSS / DGSS-Institute for Sexual and Gay Counseling. Magnus Hirschfeld Medal for Outstanding Servive to Sexual Reform (2004).
When he was honored with German sexology's most prestigeous award, the Magnus-Hirschfeld-Medal, the award document read:
"The German Sociaty for Social-Scientific Sexuality Reasearch (DGSS) is proud to award its
Magnus Hirschfeld Medal for Sexual Reform
to Rolf Gindorf.
Over the past four decades, Rolf Gindorf has been showing exemplary and
highly successful committment to the cause of sexual reform in Germany.
With the GFSS and DGSS, he has founded two sexological research
societies, and with the DGSS Institute he has created a scientifically
based sexual counseling body recognized all over Germany.
As President and Vice President of the German Society for
Social-Scientific Sexuality Research (DGSS) he has organized numerous
conferences on human sexualities of international scope. As a sexual
scientist he has more than 60 publications to his credit, including the
book series "Schriftenreihe Sozialwissenschaftliche Sexualforschung"
which he co-edited. For three decades he has been heading the DGSS
Sexual and Gay Counseling Institute in Düsseldorf. For many years
he has also been sitting on various political committees to improve the
social integration of gays and lesbians. Altogether Rolf Gindorf has
been contributing essentially towards institutionalizing
social-scientific sexuality research and professional gay counseling in
Germany.
Today, on the occasion of the XVI. Conference on Social
Scientific Sexuality Research at Lüneburg University, we honor
Rolf Gindorf for 33 years of pioneering sexological work by awarding
him the Magnus Hirschfeld Medal for Outstanding Service to Sexual
Reform.
Lüneburg, June 27, 2004
Prof. Dr. G. Runkel (President) Prof. Dr. K. Etschenberg (Vice President)"
International activities, memberships, and functions include: Scientific Advisor, Shanghai Sex Sociology Research Center;
World Association for Sexual Health (WAS); European Federation of Sexology (EFS); Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS); Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS); Editorial Board, Journal of Homosexuality; Editorial Board, 'Sexuality and Culture'.
International Scientific Committees, XIII. (1997, Valencia) and XIV.
(1999, Hongkong) World Congress of Sexology as well as 6. Congress of
the European Federation of Sexology (2002, Limassol/Cyprus).
One
of the first post-war openly gay political campaigners, he made his own
homosexuality public in a magazine article in 1962 (at a time when the
brutal Nazi anti-gay legislation was still in force) but remained
unscratched by the authorities. In 1971 he founded one of the nation's
first post-war gay lobbying organizations, the "Düsseldorfer
Arbeitskreis Homosexualität und Gesellschaft", successfully
lobbying for sex education reforms in schools. In 1976 he organized and
conducted Germany's first gay/lesbian courses ("Learning To Be Gay!")
at public Adult Education Colleges. - Subsequently concentrating on gay
counseling and research, he remained a friendly, and sometimes
participating, observer to new generations of gay activists.
Private life: Born May 14, 1939, in Köln (Cologne). Since age 19 suffering from a severe handicap (spastic hemiparesis). MENSA
member since 1961 (membership no. M666). "Out" for some 50 years, he
has always been living in stable partnerships, since 1977 with  Wolfgang Gindorf né Christiaens,
born in 1956. Together, they sued for legal marriage rights all the way
to the German Supreme Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) - vainly at
first, but with the Court ruling that the German Congress should
provide for some legal institute for same-sex partnerships. This
ultimately led to the Federal Domestic Partnership Law (copying
marriage law in most respects but name) which came into force on August
1, 2001. After the necessary additional State law was passed and came
into effect October 1, 2001, Rolf and Wolfgang were legally joined that
same day at the local Registry Office. Thus, after their long fight for
rights, values and symbols, they were finally "married" - shortly
before their silver wedding anniversary.
The photo shows them in front of the City Registry Office
(where Federal Law requires all German weddings to be performed) right
after the wedding ceremony.
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