Federal government wants to give homosexuals more rights

adminonNovember 22, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

Federal government wants to give homosexuals more rights

After Ireland's yes vote on gay marriage, German government wants to give gay and lesbian couples more rights. However, this does not mean full equality with marriage, Federal Justice Minister Maas stressed.

Maas said in an interview with "Spiegel Online" that such a step would be "unfortunately difficult to realize" in the coalition with the Union parties. However, the ie remains "on the social agenda," Maas said. The Irish had voted in a referendum with a majority of 62 percent in favor of the introduction of "gay marriage," according to the official final result on Saturday. So far it exists in 19 states. In Ireland, it was brought about for the first time by a referendum.

Media: Cabinet plans changes

According to "Spiegel Online," the cabinet will discuss a draft law by Maas on Wednesday that would extend the regulations for marriage to civil partnerships in various areas. According to the report, the law provides for simplifications in civil and procedural law.

Meanwhile, the Greens announced that they would introduce a new bill in the Bundestag "to open up marriage". "I am confident that the vote of the Irish will accelerate equality in Germany," said the leader of the Green Party in the Bundestag, Katrin Goring-Eckardt, the newspaper "Die Welt" (Tuesday). CDU presidium member Jens Spahn signaled openness to this concern: "One should think that what the Catholic Irish can do, we can do as well," Spahn told Die Welt. "The population is often further along in these matters than we think."

"Rift between church and society"

The Irish bishops, who had opposed equalization of "gay marriage," noted a "substantial rift between the Catholic Church and society". The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, spoke on the internet platform "Vatican Insider" of a "cultural revolution".

The result shows that not only many young people voted yes, but also many Irish who are still church-going, the archbishop of Dublin emphasized. The exact consequences that the Church will have to draw from this result have not yet been determined; it will certainly be necessary to put the pastoral care of young people to the test.

The diocese of Erfurt informs about a case of abuse. In the 1960s, a current retired priest allegedly abused a minor several times. Former bishop Joachim Wanke admits to having made a mistake.

On suspicion of multiple sexual abuse of a minor, the Erfurt diocese has filed criminal charges against one of its priests with the Muhlhausen public prosecutor's office. The acts allegedly occurred between 1962 and 1965 in what is now the Kyffhauser district, the diocese announced Wednesday. The accused has lived in retirement for years and is no longer in pastoral ministry. He denies the allegations.

In addition, another ecclesiastical trial

In addition to the investigation by the public prosecutor, Bishop Ulrich Neymeyr initiated ecclesiastical proceedings. He forbade the accused priest contacts with minors. In addition, he may not lead services or administer sacraments until further notice. The alleged victim had reported to one of the commissioners of the diocese of Erfurt, who examine suspected cases of sexual abuse of minors.

Until then, according to the current diocese management, no suspicious cases against the accused priest were known. There had also been no corresponding reference in the personnel file.

Outside the personnel file, however, a 1989 memo from Hans-Reinhard Koch, then in charge of personnel and later an auxiliary bishop, had been found documenting accusations that the priest had exhibited "homosexual behavior toward young people". At that time, according to the current amption of the diocese, it remained with admonishments because the accused had denied the acts.

"I have to answer for that"

Bishop Joachim Wanke, who was responsible at the time, admitted to having made a mistake, according to the diocese. "I wish the allegations had been investigated as carefully at the time as they are today," he explained. Then he might have had to draw other consequences. "I am responsible for that," said the former bishop.

Wanke's successor, Neymeyr, announced that in the coming year independent experts would be commissioned to examine all personal files of clergymen available in the episcopal ordinariate for indications of sexual abuse, in addition to the personnel files already examined. "We owe this to the victims of sexual abuse," the bishop explained.

Report any suspicions

Even before the criminal charges were filed against the priest now accused, the Erfurt diocese had ared the Thuringian attorney general's office, according to its own statement, that it would cooperate in suspected cases of sexual abuse and hand over all files requested by the public prosecutor's office.

Neymeyr again called for reporting any suspicion of sexual abuse of children and young people in the church environment to the abuse commissioners of the Erfurt diocese. The contacts Michael Kellert and Ursula Samietz are independent and not employees of the diocese, the bishop stressed.

In March 2010, the German government had appointed Christine Bergmann to head the central contact point for victims of abuse and to submit recommendations to the German government's Round Table on "Child Sexual Abuse". On Tuesday, the SPD politician will present her final report.

The task has cost the former Federal Minister for Family Affairs a lot of energy. Last week, the Federal Government Commissioner for Abuse told the Hamburg weekly newspaper "Die Zeit" that she had experienced suffering that "I could not have imagined on this scale". "I was personally very taken aback by this."

Since March 2010, Bergmann's contact office has received around 15.000 calls, e-mails and letters received. More than 60 percent of the cases happened in the family and social environment, the 71-year-old reports. Among institutions, the Catholic Church leads the way with 45 percent of all cases.

For Bergmann, one thing is certain: "Abuse often lasts a lifetime, even when the acts themselves are long gone."The feeling of powerlessness does not let go of the victims, penetrates their relationships and their families and robs them of their basic trust in other people. For more than half of the callers, it was the first time they had spoken about the abuse they had suffered, she reports. "The wounds are often still open."

Concrete political measures
On several occasions, the former family minister has spoken out in favor of concrete political measures: In addition to more counseling and financial aid for therapies, however, victims also wanted recognition of their suffering. "They want the perpetrators to admit their guilt, institutions to admit their failure and take responsibility," she says. In addition, there must be better prevention, for example through further training and sensitization of those responsible in associations, kindergartens and youth welfare. On the controversial ie of mandatory reporting, she points out that both the victims and the counseling centers are clearly opposed to it. The procedures are often so grueling and traumatizing for the victims that many of those affected would not come forward out of fear if they were required to report the abuse.

The SPD politician considers the hotly debated question of compensation to be extremely complicated. In March, Bergmann had recommended to the Round Table a joint aid fund for victims of child sexual abuse. The fund's resources should go primarily to therapy and counseling, but could also include compensation payments and hardship provisions, she said. However, it did not give concrete figures on the financial scope. In the "Zeit" interview, she specified that in addition to the institutions involved, the state must also offer compensation. The government is "clearly part of the obligation, especially when it comes to help for cases that happened long ago and for people who were abused in their families."

500.000 euros for a "prevention fund
As vague as Bergmann's proposals remain when it comes to compensation, the concept that the German Bishops' Conference already decided on last fall – as the first of the institutions involved in the Round Table – is firmly outlined. Catholic institutions pay victims of sexual assault up to 5.000 euros if they can no longer enforce their claims in court due to the statute of limitations. In addition, the church ames the costs for psychotherapy. In particularly serious cases, higher compensationmme can also be paid.

In addition, the church wants 500.000 euros to be made available for a "prevention fund. This is connected first of all with the rejection of a possible common fund for the amption of therapy costs, as Bergmann and Federal Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (FDP) favor. The church points out that religious orders and dioceses have already been aming such costs "for quite some time" if they are not financed by the health insurance funds.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply