Open letter from the gay community to Volker Beck: “Islam is a homophobic Religion”

Dear Mr. Beck,

We know and consider you to be a politician and a representative who up until now has campaigned magnificently in favor of the rights and the equal treatment of gays and lesbians in our country. For this reason we’d like to express again our deep gratitude to you.

Nevertheless, it came as a shock to us the news that your party (Bündnis90-Die Grünen) spoke in favor of the acceptance of Islam as the third main religion in Germany.

As a homosexual, you know what that means:

If Islam should gain this acceptance, it should become clear to us gays that everything we have fought for (the recognition of same-sex couples, laws against discrimination, the acceptance of gays and lesbians in society) would disappear again.

That’s why we ask you, a vehement supporter of the rights of homosexuals worldwide, to protest as strongly as possible against this your party’s plan, and to make use of your influence inside your party.

We consider Islam to be a homophobic religion, [because] homosexuality is, according to the Quran, something to be punished by death.

The Muslims’ opinion about homosexuality may be observed day by day in the districts of Berlin where there is a high concentration of Muslims in the population. In districts such as Neukölln, Kreuzberg and Wedding, it is impossible for us to go hand-in-hand in the streets, let alone to kiss each other in public, without facing the risk of being insulted, spit on or even bashed down. “Schwülenbashing” (gay-bashing) has meanwhile become a spare-time activity for Muslim youngsters. Even in the tolerant Nollendorfkiez in Berlin there have been in the past an increasing number of attacks perpetrated by Muslims against gays and lesbians, the outcome of which was, as in the case of a friend, not seldom hospital treatment. By the way, the legal proceeding against the perpetrators was abandoned.

In all countries in which Islam is the state religion (for example Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia etc…), gays are persecuted and killed. Do you really want to give more rights to this religion in Germany?

Being a professed gay, you surely do not want this. After all, apart from your activities as representative in the German parliament, you are also the curator of the Hirschfeld-Eddy Foundation for the rights of the homosexuals worldwide

We thank you for this also, because in countries in which Islam is a state religion, the rights of homosexuals are trampled underfoot on a daily basis. You and your party colleague Claudia Roth have also signed an open letter to the Interior Minister against the deportation of an Iranian homosexual to his homeland.

That’s why we urgently ask you to put all your efforts into stopping this initiative by your party, in order that homosexuals can continue living a freely self-determined life without being exposed to violent attacks.

Yours Sincerely,
Enrico Michael-Konrad & Günter Konrad
in the name of the Gay Community - Berlin