Born in Surahammar, Thorsell's thirst for learning brought him to Brunnsvik's Folkhögskola (people's high-school), where so many Swedish workers have gained a knowledge normally reserved for the upper classes.
Aware of being a homosexual in his teens, Thorsell soon became intrested in the issue of sexuality and the situation of homosexuals. His first mentors were the Swedish homosexual philosopher Pontus Wikner and Plato.
Thorsell visited Germany and the Hirschfeld Insitute. Later he got into contact with the Riksförbundet för Sexuellt Likaberättigande (RFSL), the Swedish national organisation for homosexuals, which was founded in 1950. But as early as 1933 he gave a lecture "Are the homosexuals outlaw or criminals?", perhaps the first lecture on this subject in Sweden.
Thorsell never appeared openly as homosexual, but he was uncompromising in his struggle for the rights of homosexuals. He wrote no book, his media being the article and the lecture. After his death a fund was created in his memory.
Excerpts from: Aldrich R. & Wotherspoon G., Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History, from Antiquity to WWII, Routledge, London, 2001
