60°10.252′, 024°57.363′ On top of fence foundation
The history of Swedish-speaking sexual and gender minorities in Finland has been left with little attention. In 2016 the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland (Svenska litteratursällskapet) started a project called Minorities within Minorities to collect stories of members of the lgbtiq minority.
Fritz Wetterhoff (1878–1922) was an attorney general for the city of Hämeenlinna whose extravagant lifestyle raised suspicions of embezzlement. He was also openly gay. After he was forced to resign he worked as a lawyer in Helsinki, but then moved to Berlin. There he met sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld who published his description of the gay culture in Finland in his book Homosexuality of Men and Women, 1914.
Martin Schreck is also a prominent figure in the Swedish-speaking community in Finland. He was the chairperson of the newly founded Seta gay rights organization and one of the organizers of Finland’s first gay demonstration, held in Helsinki in 1974. It was prompted by the church’s decision to fire an employee, Seppo Kivistö, because he was gay.