Hansen, Joseph

American author, editor and spokesman and activist for the rights of homosexuals. Joseph ‘Joe’ Hansen created not the first, but probably the best-known male homosexual problem-solver in crime literature, Dave Brandstetter. Hansen wrote in other genres, too, and several of his books describe the problems – not least mental – that homosexuals experience. He is not much appreciated in conservative and religious circles, but was in many ways an innovator and is still – he died in 2004 – praised and regarded as an important debater of social issues.