There are no good reasons for excluding homosexual employees from employment in facilities run by the German Caritas Association. This was emphasized on Tuesday morning in Berlin by Frieder Otto Wolf, President of the Humanist Association of Germany, in view of the upcoming public talks between the Bishop of Trier, Stephan Ackermann, and representatives of the Lesbian and Gay Association in Germany (LSVD). Ackermann will take part in the moderated discussion “Date with the Bishop” tomorrow, Wednesday, starting at 7 p.m. in the Saarbrücken Congress Hall. It will be the first public discussion between a bishop of the Catholic Church in Germany and representatives of the LSVD. “We welcome Bishop Ackermann’s move to publicly address the questions and arguments of people who are disadvantaged by church employment law because of their non-heterosexual identity,” said Frieder Otto Wolf. After all, non-denominational and non-religious employees in Germany are confronted with similar experiences to homosexual employees. They too are excluded from a considerable part of the labor market in the Federal Republic by church labor law, unless they conceal their ideological identity and convictions. There are no good reasons for any of these forms of discrimination, as neither sexual nor ideological identity is practically relevant for the vast majority of employment relationships. “In view of the fact that the operation of the facilities is predominantly or entirely financed by the public purse, this situation is an outrageous scandal,” Wolf emphasized here. He went on to say that homosexual people in particular can be self-confident in their demands of the Catholic Church. “What they are demanding here from the Church in Germany and also from German politicians is nothing less than compliance with clear human rights standards that are clearly established outside the Church’s institutions. These simply do not permit discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation,” Wolf continued. The Catholic Church and its German welfare association in particular must therefore move to take clear steps to fulfill their actual responsibility for people’s lives. After all, the Church’s actions in this country have a global impact, as Frieder Otto Wolf emphasized. “Bishop Stephan Ackermann must therefore also be reminded of the terrible suffering that homosexual people still experience today in many Christian societies, precisely because of the sexual morals taught and represented by the Church for centuries. This is about more than just labor law: especially in African countries, homosexual people still experience not only social exclusion and contempt, but also real persecution, violence and death,” explained Wolf. As long as the church and its theologians do not overcome these teachings, they are therefore also jointly responsible for the threat and destruction of human existence experienced on the African continent and elsewhere in the world. If homosexuals are no longer disadvantaged and excluded in church institutions in this country in a central area such as working life, a first step would be taken to overcome this culpable involvement of the church. Wolf: “This is therefore clearly about more than just issues of mutual respect, it is ultimately also about human lives.”
Further information
lsvd.de: “Date with the bishop”
