Homophobia is often cited as the background to crimes such as that recently committed at the CSD in Karlsruhe. But it has absolutely nothing to do with fear: this is all about hate.
At the Christopher Street Day Parade (CSD) in Karlsruhe on Saturday, a group of 30 people is said to have attacked and injured several people who had previously taken part in the parade. A rainbow flag is said to have been lit. In her Instagram post, among other things, the former “Princess Charming” participant Wikiriot draws attention to the fact. She tearfully reports on the incident and also raises serious allegations against the police.
As the SWR reports, the state security of the Karlsruhe criminal police is taking over the further investigations because this would be a “political-ideological act”. The criminal investigations would also include the Karlsruhe police, who, according to the accusation, did not investigate the incident on site and subsequently with the “required intensity”.
Queerophobia follows queerophobia
The incident is just the latest example of many in which queer hostility is acted out with frightening implicitness. It’s not for nothing that Wikiriot starts its video with “there was another anti-queer incident” and not with “after years there is a completely unexpected anti-queer incident”. A gay couple in Bad Neustadt was recently attacked by an “apparently homophobic man,” the Main Post reported in early June.
And also just in time for Pride Month, on June 1st, five guest authors published an “opinion piece” on Welt.de entitled: “How ARD and ZDF indoctrinate our children”. In it, the authors criticized that programs such as “The Show with the Mouse” allegedly denied “that there are only two genders”. Children would be “indoctrinated” and “intrusively sexualized”. Happy Pride Month, I say. But I have more to say about that.
Homophobia is not a disease
I don’t even know where to start here. Perhaps with a term that is often used in connection with such incidents: homophobia. “Homo” comes from the Greek and means “same”, “phobia” is translated as “fear”. The fear of homosexual people. Only this designation could hardly be more misleading. The group of people who are said to have attacked queer people at the CSD were not afraid of these people. Anxiety, according to the Lexicon of Psychology, is an “emotional state characterized by tension, anxiety, nervousness, inner turmoil and fear of future events”.
I feel tension when I’m in a situation where I can’t assess whether the person towards me might react aggressively to my rainbow brooch on my jacket. I’m concerned at her scrutiny, nervous at my insecurity of how she’s reacting to my very existence, feeling uneasy and afraid of being verbally or physically attacked. The people who were hit and kicked in the Karlsruhe Palace Park must have felt afraid.
The people who hit and kicked her, who are said to have taken the rainbow flag and burned it, didn’t do it with inner tension, they weren’t worried, nervous, restless or afraid. This was not about fear, it was and is about hate.
Where do we actually live?
Germany, so open, so tolerant. And I mean the word with its actual meaning, because there is a difference between acceptance and tolerance. Again and again it shows how hostile the topic of queerness is treated by a few, loud, hateful people. It shows up in big moments like this one in Karlsruhe, in violent outbursts that culminate in the perverted burning of a flag to symbolically convey a clear message. It can be seen in “opinion pieces”, which are (initially) distributed by the news medium completely unfiltered, unquestioned and unreflective without any classification and distancing, as if queerness were something worthy of discussion along the lines of: “You’ll probably be allowed to say that one day.”
Speaking of worthy of discussion: Through Instagram I also came across the Oktoberfest portal, a magazine for the said Munich festival, which is kind enough to give homosexual Oktoberfest-goers some “rules of conduct”. A few highlights: It is not recommended to flirt at the Oktoberfest, after all “not every visitor to the Oktoberfest is so tolerant that he can look forward to gay male couples”. You’re allowed to flirt, of course, but it’s suggested “to be a bit reserved” because after all, the beer tent isn’t the right place to explain terms like “tolerance” and “equality” to people.
Incidentally, in response to the horrified media feedback, the magazine wrote that it was wonderful that their site was now also being discussed by the gay and lesbian community. “A lively discussion with contrary opinions is the basis of a colorful society!” Human rights are not opinions. Neither does queer hostility.
A wonderfully colorful society is that we live in, we can be proud of that and pat each other on the back, or if in doubt, smack each other up for our sexual/romantic orientation or gender identity and burn each other’s flags. For the average of three queer people who fall victim to hate crimes every day, that should at least seem like the much-vaunted “normality” – after all, they don’t know it any other way.
Sources used: dorsch.hogrefe.com, welt.de, spiegel.de, ms.niedersachsen.de, swr.de, oktoberfestportal.de, mainpost.de, instagram.de