German Protestant parish and LGBT community stand together against the far-right
Protestant parish in Pirna (Saxony): “The Rainbow Flag expresses our human diversity. It invites us to hold together the different colours of our lives, finds no spectrum for a brown-racist, devaluing character and is also a Christian image of the fact that for God this world should be as colourful, diverse and even flawed as we humans are (Genesis 9:17).”
Protestant church flies the rainbow flag in defiance of the local right-wing mayor.
July 2024: In a small town in the eastern German state of Saxony, the Protestant church is supporting the local LGBT community in its dispute with the town's right-wing mayor. The dispute began when the recently elected mayor of Pirna forbade the rainbow flag to be flown at the town hall on 17 May, the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia. The Protestant parish raised the flag at the town’s parish church in response.
In a social media comment, the mayor then compared the rainbow flag to the swastika flag of the Third Reich.
Mayor Tim Lochner, who the far-right AfD party supports, wrote in a social media post, which has now been deleted, that people should not forget that swastika flags hung on the town’s church years ago. The church council of Pirna called the mayor's comparison difficult to bear and wrong.
Pirna’s parish priest added that the Protestant Church has recognised and repented of the mistakes made by parts of its institution during the Nazi era. He continued: “We do not want to make the mistakes of the past again today and want to boldly declare that openness and tolerance are part of our basic understanding. The rainbow flag is a good sign of this. It expresses human diversity.”
A spokesman for the LGBT community thanked the Protestant parish for its support and called the mayor's behaviour propaganda of the cheapest kind.
Unintentionally, Mayor Lochner's homophobic behaviour has attracted national and international attention to Pirna’s LGBT community. Celebrities from all over Germany came to the town for this year's Christopher Street Parade on 13 July. The organisers estimated that the number of participants doubled to 6,000 compared to previous years.
A representative for the Saxon state government said in a speech in Pirna that everyone was free to love and live as they wished. In her speech, the minister expressly thanked the pastor and parish for their actions.
Statement by the church council on the hanging of the rainbow flag at Pirna's St Mary's Church
(Extracts translated from German)
At its meeting on 9 April 2024, the church council of the Protestant parish of Pirna decided to express its solidarity with people who continue to be oppressed. That is why the rainbow flag was hung on St Mary's Church on 17 May, the International Day against Homo-, Bi-, Inter- and Transphobia and the 13th Christopher Street Day.
Phobia means fear. Fear of what is different for many people, how they feel and how they organise their lives, is always wrong if it does not result in a threat to their own living space. That is why fear, especially fuelled fear of people whose gender identity is different to my own, is not helpful. Fear of people who speak a different language or even hatred of people who stand up for positions other than our own in the democratic political spectrum is just as unhelpful. Fear paralyses and leads to segregation and, in the worst case to exclusion and even violence. It is important to take a stand against all of this because our Christian faith teaches us: ‘God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power and love and prudence.’ (2 Timothy 1:7)
The rainbow flag is a good symbol of this. It expresses our human diversity. It invites us to hold together the different colours of our lives, finds no spectrum for a brown-racist, devaluing character and is also a Christian image of the fact that for God this world should be as colourful, diverse and even flawed as we humans are (Genesis 9:17). As a church community, we have also reacted to the fact that the rainbow flag is no longer allowed to fly on masts that are the responsibility of Pirna's city council, as was the case in previous years.
This is hard to bear and wrong in terms of content. The Protestant Church recognised and repented the mistakes made by parts of its institution during the years between 1933 and 1945. It acknowledged this in the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt on 19 October 1945, in which it stated: ‘We accuse ourselves of not having confessed more courageously, prayed more faithfully, believed more cheerfully and loved more ardently.’
We do not want to make this mistake again today and want to ‘boldly confess’ that openness and tolerance are part of our basic understanding. Already in the ‘Barmen Theological Declaration’ of 31 May 1934, deeply believing Christians opposed the terrible, evil and deadly exclusionary will of the Führer state. For many of them, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, this meant the death sentence.
RELATED PAGES: German business against the far-right | Descendants of German resistance fighters | German mayors against the right | Germans against the far-right | Extremist politics at the root of anti-Semitism |
IN YOUR OPINION: Please comment
BACK TO TOP