Protestant church reform movement has little traction in the wider world

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At the Christopher Street Day (CSD) service in the Leonhardskirche there are complaints, but also spiritual tools for the fight for recognition for the queer (used in the German original) movement.

Church is church. No matter what colour. The traction is fading. The occasion of a service hardly makes a difference. Only 16 visitors found their way to the Leonhardskirche on Tuesday evening to take part in the official CSD service. Four pastors (Evelyn Helle, Wolfgang Adelhelm, Christoph Doll and Burkhard Rink) came up with a lot of ideas to give the queer movement Christian backing and spiritual support. According to Pastor Doll, despite all the successes in "society, the queer way of life is not yet normal". He therefore prayed that "in God's spirit we overcome what divides us".

Shame for own church

Of course, Doll, who conducted the first homosexual blessing in the city in the Leonhardskirche, was also referring to his Protestant brothers and sisters, who had long resisted a debate as well as a solution to the blessing of same-sex couples.

"For us as a church, it is still shameful that they continue to let some, as guardians of morality, go over so many heads and say what is right or wrong," Burkhard Rink said in his sermon. With regard to the celebrations of the Christopher Street Day movement on 30 and 31 July in Stuttgart, where the political and social demands for recognition of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, intersexual and queer people will also be made public with a parade, Wolfgang Adelhelm said: The fact that after ex-German football league professional, Thomas Hitzlsperger no other prominent footballer has yet come out as homosexual "shows that there is still much to do". 

This was also the line taken by an 86-year-old in an interview with Adelhelm. He experienced the history of discrimination and criminal prosecution in Germany first-hand as a homosexual: "Today we have the freedom to come out publicly. That is a great relief. I hope that this will now also take root in everyone's minds." He continued: "I am grateful to all those who have dedicated themselves to the CSD movement. However, right now we also have to clearly state that it is not enough to do ring-around-the-roses with contact once a year, but that we have to fight the whole year."